Cookie Butter Cheesecake Bars with Chocolate Ganache

posted by Marion@Life Tastes Good on 2013-08-29

These bars are delightful! One bite of this heavenly combination of Cookie Butter, Cheesecake, and Chocolate Ganache will make you close your eyes and savor every last morsel of these rich and creamy bars! Nothing left to say! You know you want 'em!!

Ingredients

• 1 package honey graham crackers (about 9 crackers)
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted (unsalted butter always...for everything)
• 2 8 ounce packages cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cookie butter (Biscoff Spread - creamy)
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/8 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Don't spray the parchment paper. You just want to spray the pan so the parchment will stick to it somewhat. Be sure to leave excess parchment hanging over the sides for easy removal.
2. Using a blender or food processor, pulse the graham crackers until you have fine crumbs. Add in the melted butter and process until combined. Press graham cracker mixture evenly into your prepared baking pan, making sure to get all the way into corners. Compress down with the back of a spoon.
3. Clean out the blender or food processor and add the 2 packages of cream cheese, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pulse until well combined and smooth.
4. Spread approximately 2/3 of the cream cheese mixture on top of the graham cracker crust evenly. Add 1/2 cup cookie butter to the remaining cream cheese mixture and pulse until well combined. Spread the cookie butter cream cheese mixture on top and bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.
5. When cooled, heat 1/8 cup of heavy cream and pour over chocolate chips. Stir until melted and smooth. Pour evenly over bars in a thin layer and refrigerate overnight. I prefer to make these up a couple days ahead. As with any cheesecake, the flavor improves over time and is usually best when it has had about 2 days in the fridge. When ready to eat, remove the parchment from the pan, cut into squares, and enjoy! They won't last long!

Photo by ourlifetastesgood.blogspot.com

Sopapilla CheeseCake Bars recipe is inspired by a Mexican donut that is made from leavened wheat dough and butter. When fried it puffs up leaving a hollow center. This recipe is great because you get all the yummy goodness without all the work! Gotta love that!

We were watching TV the other night and someone said they have Mexican food for their Christmas dinner, and that started up Madison's cravings! So I decided to surprise her on Friday with an appetizer dinner of different Mexican foods

This dessert went perfectly with our themed meal, and the recipe sounded so simple I had to give it a try!  It is best to make this up a day ahead, but if you don't have that kind of time, it is still yummy as long as it has some time to cool in the fridge

Sopapilla CheeseCake Bars

By Life Tastes Good
Published 12/22/2012

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 1 (8 ounce) pacakges Philly Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9" baking dish with cooking spray. Open 1 crescent roll package and unroll into bottom of greased dish - press the seams together seal.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine 8 ounce cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup sugar until well combined. Spread the mixture evenly over the dough in the baking dish.
3. Open the 2nd can of crescent rolls and unroll onto a piece of parchment paper. Press seams together to seal.
4. Pick up parchment paper and lay, dough side down, onto cream cheese filling. Remove parchment. If you don't have parchment - no worries - just unroll onto top of cream cheese filling, being sure to cover it and try to pinch the seams together. Don't make yourself crazy trying to close the seams - it will bake up nicely either way.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. When you remove the cheesecake from the oven, evenly sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top of the dough. Allow to cool and then refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Enjoy!

Yield: 12-15 Servings
Prep Time: 15 mins.

Cook time: 30 mins.
Total time: 45 mins.

recipe inspired by allrecipes.com Sopapilla CheeseCake Bars