Cream Cheese. It's Not Just for Bagels.

I only made two cheesecake things so far in my baking endeavors. Last summer I made a "light" cheesecake that used a combination of light cream cheese and vanilla yogurt and just recently, I made these creme brulee cheesecake bars for the holidays. Even though my husband's favorite dessert is cheesecake, I don't make it usually because of how dense and rich it is. Not that I don't enjoy a piece of red velvet cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory every now and again! (FYI: It's delicious and if you haven't had it, you need to try it!) These bars are kind of time consuming, but not quite as complicated and fragile as a traditional cheesecake that needs to bake in a spring-form pan and requires bizarre cooking instructions (like turning off the oven and leaving the cake in there). I know there's a reason why you leave the cheesecake in the oven, but it just seems odd to me!

I love a lot of things about these bars. I love that they aren't overly rich. They have a sugar cookie base (which gets extra flavor by using a box of dry vanilla pudding mix). They also only use two boxes of cream cheese. Some standard cheesecake recipes call for four or more boxes! I also use the light or "neufchatel" cream cheese and have no problems with the density or texture at all. Neufchatel cream cheese is supposed to contain more moisture than standard cream cheese so it can effect the density of some recipes, but I've never noticed a problem. But then again, I don't think I've ever used standard cream cheese in a recipe... The point I'm trying to make is that these cheesecake bars give you the full, creamy cheesecake flavor and texture without being overly rich. So instead of treating yourself to cheesecake once in a blue moon, make these bars, and treat yourself more often!