As most people do these days, I have an obscene number of blogs that I follow. My feed reader is insane. The majority of those feeds are from food blogs. I am always finding recipes that pique my interest. Even with the best of intentions, I never seem to get around to making those recipes. In an effort to remedy that, I made these cheesecake bars from Nicole’s blog, Baking Bites.
I had been wanting to make some kind of cheesecake bars for a while, but I wasn’t able to find one that really appealed to me. Nicole’s recipe, however, had me gathering ingredients quickly and diving right in.
While the word “vanilla” has taken on the meaning of plain or boring, it is anything but those things to me. I am the person who can’t bake with vanilla extract without inhaling deeply over the bottle. And, don’t get me started on my newly found love of vanilla bean extract, which I put to good use in these cheesecake bars.
Nicole writes that this is one of her favorites. After making them and tasting them, I definitely understand why she likes it so much. These bars were quick and easy to put together. The crust has to be one of my favorites. It has a wonderful subtle flavor, and the texture reminded me of shortbread. I used her suggestion of using vanilla sugar. While she has a helpful post on how to make vanilla sugar, I used Penzey’s vanilla sugar. Probably not the most economical way to approach things, but I had been anxious to put it to use.
We really loved these cheesecake bars. They aren’t quite as rich as most cheesecakes I’ve made. The vanilla flavor is so perfectly simple. While I liked them just as they are, I’m sure you could easily dress these up with fruit or some sort of glaze or sauce for a visually impressive dessert. Any way you serve them, these are certainly a delicious dessert. Many thanks to Nicole for the recipe!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup vanilla sugar
- 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup half & half
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 vanilla bean, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Instructions
To make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9"x 13" baking pan.
Beat butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed to low, and gradually add flour and salt until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.
To make the filling:
Place cream cheese, sugar, and half & half in the bowl of a stand mixer or a food processor. Mix until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the mixture, or add extract if using. Add flour. Mix or pulse until smooth.
Pour filling over partially baked crust. Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until the filling is set. Refrigerate until ready to cut into bars and serve.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Baking Bites.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I have recipes bookmarked from all over the place to try, lots from your blog too, like those last cookies you posted. These bars look great!
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I inhale the fumes from the vanilla bottle as well!! I can’t wait to look into getting vanilla bean extract… I never even knew there was such a thing. And you managed to get a delicious picture of an otherwise boring bar
Will add these to my “to try” pile! Thanks!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
The best thing about making cheesecake bars is that they are individually portioned so you can have a small piece and savor it
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I want to have a piece of this, now!
Love the specks of vanilla beans in the cheesecake bar!
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:49 am
Oh, “not so rich” rings my bell. Most cheesecake is just too much for me. I want to like it, but after two bites I’ve had enough. Definitely will add this to my own obscenely long list of blogged recipes to try.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 am
Wow, now I am dying to make these.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:52 am
OMG. I’m so humgry right now…
I’m a fan of “BorB” and I would like to have your permission to translate some of your recipes to spanish (yes, I’m spanish). Can I?
Thank you in advance and kisses from Spain.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:34 am
This looks insanely good! Sometime speople disregard vanilla as plain but when I see those little specs of bean… So luxurious and aromatic. I want some!
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 am
I didn’t like vanilla much until I realized I hadn’t have proper, good old vanilla – that changed my mind!
These bars look delicious, Jen!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 am
I think these look great!
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
Hi, I’m Claude and I’m cheesecake-addicted…Hi Claude
Sounds really good, I have just to test! Cheers
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:52 am
After the lime bars I made last week I have to give this a go. These look decadent!
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
Thanks, everyone!
Morgana, I don’t see why you couldn’t translate them. Enjoy!
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
Yum! These will be bookmarked!
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Ooh, I love the vanilla flecks in this. I’m also a huge vanilla fan… and cheesecake fan… alright, these are going on the to-make list ^__^
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
WOW. That sounds and looks unbelievably delicious!
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Cheesecake is my dessert of choice. Bars would tend to direct me toward portion contol–ha! Gorgeous close-up photo!
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I love my vanilla bean extract. And these look perfect!
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
That looks so good!
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
That looks soo good! I love vanilla….I love cheescake! The little flecks of vanilla look marvelous!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Thanks! I can attest that these keep well, too. Very good straight from the fridge.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I love cheesecakes I love cheesecakes I love cheesecakes .Stop. You know the truth now. I can’t help thinking that I’ll try this recipe… but like you… I see lots of great recipes on blogs which attract me…
However, cheesecake is Cheesecake ! And I haven’t spoken about vanilla yet…
March 6th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Oh my good gracious this looks good. :O
March 6th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Once you put your hands on good quality vanilla,there is no going back. Smelling the pods always makes me happy! The bars sound truly wonderful!
March 6th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Sha, canarygirl, and Helen – thanks!
December 30th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Ahh. Yet another thing for me to bake while I am bored here on my vacation from college
They look amazing.
December 30th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Ahh. Yet another thing for me to make while I am bored here on my vacation from college
They look amazing.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:30 pm
It looks delicious!
I never eat cheesecakes…