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
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. 
Give me a moment to compose myself… ok. This is the cake that my dreams are made of! Carrot cake and cheesecake are my two favorite cakes, so combine them into one amazing dessert, and I’m in total bliss. It looks phenomenal, and I would dominate a big slice ;).
This cake was phenomenal!!!!! I have now made 3 versions and I think the carrot was the best. Everyone raved over it and we all thought it was better the 2nd day! YUM is an understatement!
I’m confused, how did the become a red velvet cake during the assembly?
beantownbaker — January 27th, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
That was a typo in the recipe since this was based on the red velvet cheesecake cake that I had made. I fixed it. Hope that helps.
Do i have to put the cheesecake pan in a roaster with water? I dont have a roaster? Before I purchase one I thought Id ask. Ive made many cheesecakes in the past and never did this
Thanks
beantownbaker — April 1st, 2013 @ 8:35 am
Yes, you are using a water bath to bake the cheesecake. So the water should come up about half way on the side of the pan that the cheesecake is in. I usually use a disposable roasting pan since I don’t have a roaster either. Hope that helps.
Just made this for Easter and everyone loved it.. Thank you
beantownbaker — April 1st, 2013 @ 8:36 am
Glad it was a success for you. This is a great Easter cake.
I made this for Easter today as well, and it was great, everyone said so. I couldn’t eat much, it’s SO thick and rich. I don’t think it would have been half as great without the cheesecake. LOVE that and what a super easy recipe for the cheesecake.
The cake was quite a bit more work than I am used to, and I had to change a few things up based on what I had, in cae this helps anyone else…
I didn’t have brown sugar, subbed coconut palm sugar.
I used toasted almonds instead of pecans and was pleasantly surprised that I actually like them when toasted, as I don’t normally like them at all, they were so light and crispy.
I do not have a stand mixer, I used my Ninja blender with the whipping cream attachement (I didn’t know that it would work but it worked just fine!)
My food processor is broke and couldn’t find my grater, so I used my blender for the carrots, worked just fine.
I skipped the parchment paper bc I was out and that was no biggie.
The cake looked picture perfect and tasted amazing, no complaints here. Thank you!!!
beantownbaker — April 1st, 2013 @ 8:37 am
So glad this worked out for you. Thanks for coming back and posting the changes you made. I am sure they will be helpful for other readers.
Toasted almonds are one of my favorite nuts! What a great substitution.
How many people will this feed? It is a combo of my two favorite things so I want to make it for a Bunco group.
beantownbaker — July 21st, 2013 @ 3:51 pm
It will easily serve 12-16
I made this for my mom’s 60th birthday and everyone loved it. My dad announced that it was his favorite cake ever, so…I’m about to go buy the ingredients to make it again for HIS 60th next week 🙂 Thanks!
beantownbaker — October 15th, 2013 @ 5:02 pm
Wow! Now that’s a compliment! So glad everyone enjoyed it 🙂
Hey there!
Wonderful recipe 🙂 just curious, when you assembled the cake, is the top layer bottom side up, or right side up? Did you trim the rounded top off?
Thanks!
beantownbaker — December 10th, 2013 @ 4:56 pm
If I remember correctly, my layers came out pretty flat. If they were round, I would trim the top off. I always put the top layer upside down when I’m stacking a layer cake.
Made this for Easter, for my husband’s side of the family. Perfect cake recipe! Takes time to make, but nothing difficult. Turned out beautifully and tasted wonderful. I didn’t tell anyone about the cheesecake layer, so when I cut the first piece everyone was just thrilled to see that middle layer. The cake is a feast for both the eyes and the palate. It also travels well, which is a bonus for a 3-layer cake. I will make this cake again, and again, and again. Thanks!!!
beantownbaker — April 27th, 2014 @ 2:46 pm
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Just tried to make this… and I am curious if other people who had success used the volume or weight measures??
I used the weight and was quite precise BUT the cake is now seemingly exploding in my oven.. I am thinking some of the ounces are wrong but am not sure. (I have checked the recipe about 5 times to make sure i measured correctly too…)
Quite disappointed but hopefully I can still salvage something from it.
hi! I wanted to make this for Easter tmrw..but I only have 10″ pans..both for the cheesecake & cake..can u PLEASE help me w/ the adjustments? I tried googling it, but it’s just not happening & I WANT to make this recipe..it has 5 stars! THANK U, THANK U!
what I left out, was, I don’t want my cakes to be thin..I LOVE/prefer a high cake 🙂
Hello! Will the cheesecake tend to soften and tilt or sink in if it’s in a slightly warm environment or if I make it into a 5-6″ layer cake? I’m thinking of having one cake layer at the bottom, then the cheesecake, then the rest of the 2-4 layers cake layers. I am wondering if the cake will hold (with the cheesecake layer) if I put a center dowel?