Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars

After writing up and then re-reading what I said in my Snickerdoodle Ice Cream post, I started to feel like a bad big sister. Afterall, my sister and her husband were driving 5 hours to come see us on their holiday weekend and I couldn’t even save them some ice cream that I had made with her in mind… So instead of feeling bad about it, I set out to make something else that they would enjoy.

When I saw this recipe in Google Reader with a star next to it, I knew it would be a winner. Not only does my sister love snickerdoodles, her husband loves cheesecake. So really, these bars are the perfect dessert to make for them. In fact, they’re pretty perfect to make for anyone.

Everyone who tried one couldn’t get enough of them. The same batter is used for the base of the bars as for the drops of snickerdoodle on top. You’ll notice that it’s ingredients are eerily similar to those of snickerdoodle cookies.

The cheesecake layer is a pretty standard cheesecake filling. No frills there, which makes it the perfect compliment to the cinnamony snickerdoodle components to these bars.

For the dollops of snickerdoodles on the top, I used my tiny cookie scoop to portion out dough. Dropping those little balls of dough “randomly” is harder for this engineer than I was expecting. I kept wanting to line them up in perfect formation.

I’m glad that my sister’s visit encouraged me to try this recipe. I think it’s one that going to be repeated in my house (and hers) in the future!

Four Years Ago: Chocolate Strawberry and Vanilla Ice Cream Cupcakes and Coconut Raspberry Ice Cream Cupcakes
Five Years Ago: Blueberry Lemon Cookies and Stuffed Tomatoes

Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars

The perfect marriage of snickerdoodles and cheesecake, in the ever popular bar format!

Yield: 16 bars

Ingredients:

For Cinnamon Sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

For the Cookie Base
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg (optional)

For the Cheesecake Layer
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
For the Cinnamon sugar
Mix in a bowl until cinnamon is fully incorporated into sugar.

Butter an 8-x-8-inch baking pan. Use 1/8 cup of cinnamon sugar, place at the bottom of the pan, then rotate the pan around so that the cinnamon sugar sticks to where the butter is. Whatever cinnamon sugar is left, set aside.

For the Cookie Base
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add egg and beat until fully incorporated. Scrape down bowl and beat for another 30 seconds.

Add dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.

Divide cookie dough so that 3/4 of the dough goes into the bottom of the pan, the remaining 1/4 will go on top. Place the remaining 1/4 dough into another bowl and clean out the mixing bowl to use for cheesecake. Press the cookie dough into the pan to make an even bottom layer. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar from when you prepared the pan.

For the Cheesecake Layer
Using the stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until fully incorporated and smooth.

Add flour and beat until fully incorporated and smooth.

Pour cheesecake batter on top of cookie dough in prepared pan.

Take the remaining cookie dough and roll into small balls. Roll them in the remaining cinnamon sugar and place them randomly on top of the cheesecake batter but make sure they are not touching.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Then put in fridge for 1 hour.

Recipe from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody