Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
When I sent a picture of these bars to Hubby at work to show him what I had done during my day off, his response was simple “YES PLEASE”. As I’ve mentioned, Hubby is a HUGE cookie dough fan. As much as he claims not to be a big sweets/dessert guy, he will never deny his love of cookie dough. So when I saw these pop up in my Google Reader, there was no doubt that I had to add them to my must-bake list.
And due to that love of cookie dough, these bars jumped right to the top of that must-bake list. And boy am I glad they did. In fact, I think everyone who got to taste these guys is glad they made it to the top of the must-bake list.
These bars start with a base of a graham cracker crust with mini chocolate chips in it. Yes please. Next comes a cheesecake layer. Yes please. And last, but definitely not least, comes a layer of cookie dough crumbles. Yes Please.
The combination of these three layers results in amazingly delicious cookie bar that you will not be forgetting about any time soon. You get a great crunchiness from the graham cracker crust, then a great creaminess from the cheesecake layer, and then the delicious crumbliness from the cookie dough. I this this cookie dough recipe would be great to mix in to some ice cream. Like I mentioned, it yielded large crumbles of cookie dough, as opposed to the smooth cookie dough frosting that I’ve used on brownies and mini cupcakes.
A couple notes, I doubled this recipe since I was baking for a large group. I used a 9×13 pan and had to bake them for about double the baking time listed. I have shown the recipe below as a single batch. The original recipe has a chocolate drizzle over the top. I left it off literally because I forgot about it, but it would add another layer of indulgence to these bars.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
Yield: 16
Ingredients:
For the Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 Tbsp butter, melted
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
For the Cookie Dough
5 Tbsp butter, room temp.
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips
For the Cheesecake Filling
10 oz. cream cheese, room temp.
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325.
For the crust
Grease a 8x8 pan with butter, line pan with parchment paper and butter the paper, leaving enough to extend over the sides.
Crush graham crackers into crumbs to make 1 & 1/2 cups. Add to butter and stir until crumbs are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.
Press crust mixture into bottom of pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool.
For cookie dough
Using mixer and the paddle attachment, mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until smooth. Adjust mixer speed to low and add flour. Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.
For cheesecake
Using mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended.
Pour batter into cooled, baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling.
Bake about 30 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Place in the refrigerator to chill several hours.
Recipe adapted from Bake at 350
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
How awesome that you were on Leno! Are we allowed to ask what you were on for? I love your list and am raising two hands to vote for the Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake. I made it last fall (http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/11/brownie-mosaic-cheesecake/) and it is simply to die for. You won’t be sorry!!
Um yeah, totally meant Letterman. ::slaps forehead:: I’m sleepy 😉
What a cool blog event! I wish I had known about it before today, so I could participate. Is it a monthly thing? If so, I’m definitely in next time!
Michelle – I was the co-captain of a Rube Goldberg team (think of the game mouse trap but on a HUGE scale) in college. In 2003, Purdue won the national competition and they got us on the Letterman show. I was the “spokesperson” for the team and we had our machine on stage. It was an awesome experience. I’ve been trying to find pictures, but that was pre-digital camera for me so I can’t find any…
Annie – I believe it is a monthly event. I think she started it in May…
Thanks for the link to my site! I hope you try out the Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles if you are a goat cheese fan. They were so delish.
yay for the best bookmarks ever! we have similar taste i guess bc i got some great ideas from this post and i’ve done some on your list. two quick notes on these bookmarks:
1) do the bagels at smitten kitchen. the cinna. raisin rock and it’s so rewarding to spend that much time and yield awesome results. i’m a new baker and it wasn’t very hard to do. definitely add the maple syrup or molasses to the water when you boil the bagels. dole makes plump raisins and they rock.
2) billy’s cupcakes will be your answer to vanilla cupcakes forever! i had issues with overflow so i’d reduce the baking powder from 3t (=1T) to 2.5 tsp.
Thanks for the tips Sweetie
OMG thanks for the shout-out!!! 🙂 where the HECK have i been!?? i’ve seen your facebook status updates and i never realized they were from YOUR blog!!! they are awesome! i’m SO proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! talk soon!!! love, WALKER
ps: i have some pics, i’ll get them scanned. 🙂