Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars Recipe

We are having game night with some friends tonight and Pinterest came to my rescue for some yummy game time treats.

I pinned this recipe to my “Sweet Treats Worth Eating” board and have been staring at it for a while now.

SO! This weekend’s "Pinned It and Did It” is featuring the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars from BrandysBaking.com.

What you will need:

Crust :

• 1 1/2 Cups of Graham Cracker Crumbs – (Took about 1 1/2 packages of Graham Crackers and I smooshed them up with the bottom of a glass cup)
• 5 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter, melted

Cheesecake Filling:

• 10 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1 Large Egg (I used egg beaters for my recipe)
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:

• 5 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, room temperature
• 1/3 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
• 3 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 Tsp. Salt
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 Cup Flour
• 2/3 Cup Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 F

Line a 9×9 or 8×8 square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, be sure to allow a little overhang on the sides and spray with nonstick cooking spray. The lining is merely there to assist you in lifting the bars out of the pan after they have set, allowing you to cut the bars nice and pretty. Set aside.

Then starting with the crust, mix together the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until thoroughly combined. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the lined pan and cook in your preheated oven for 6 minutes. When done, move the pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool while preparing the other layers.

Now it’s time to prepare the cookie dough mixture. In your stand mixer, attach the paddle attachment if possible. Mix together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth completely mixed. Then on low speed, mix in the flour and chocolate chips just until they are mixed together. Set aside.

TIP : Your mixture will look like my picture, it will appear dry and that is how it should look.

In your stand mixer, still using the paddle attachment, mix together the cream cheese and sugar until you have reached a smooth consistency. Then mix in the egg and vanilla on low speed just until it’s blended.

N0w it’s time to pour the cheesecake mixture over the graham cracker crust. This was best done by dropping spoonful’s of the mixture across the entire crust layer. TIP: Be careful when spreading it around as the cheesecake mixture will grab onto the crust layer. I used a spatula’s side and very lightly rubbed it over the cheesecake mixture to give a somewhat even coating.

The original recipe from Brandysbaking.com indicated to drop teaspoon sized clumps of the cookie dough mixture and drop it onto the cheesecake layer. We prefer more of the crumble effect so I just spread the entire cookie dough mixture across the top.

Bake in your oven for 30 minutes, until the top is dry and the pan feels like it has set.

Cool on a cooling rack enough to cool down to the touch and put it into the fridge to chill/set for a couple hours or overnight. We let ours set for 2 hours and it was perfect for our game night.

After you have chilled the bars, lift them from the pan by using the overhang on the lining that you used. Then cut into squares and enjoy!