Making cheesecake a great snack

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
(recipe from dozenflours.com, taken from cookbook)

Crust

• 1 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter a 9″-square baking pan (mine was round). Line pan with parchment paper (I used tinfoil), leaving enough to extend over the sides. Butter the parchment paper. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter 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.

Cookie Dough

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Using an electric mixer, mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until smooth. Decrease mixer speed to low and add flour. Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.

Filling

• 10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar just until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended. Pour batter into baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling. Bake about 30-35 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack.

For chocolate topping, melt 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave. (Tip: put the chocolate chips into a zipper bag and heat on 50% power for a few minutes. Cut the corner off the bag and squeeze the bag to make drizzling less messy). Use a teaspoon to drizzle chocolate over top of bars. Cool bars in pan completely, about an hour. Using the edges of the parchment paper, remove bars from pan. Cut into bars (clean the knife after each cut) and serve. Best in fridge for a couple of hours.

These really don't take that long, though it seems like they could. Prep time was about 30 minutes for everything, and then the 35 minutes in oven. These are so fun and good! The cookie dough isn't dough-ey, it is cooked, but it is soft and a good texture with the cheesecake filling. These make a lot if you cut them in little bars, and they are so fun to eat! Yummy!