Reese’s Cheesecake Bars

I had some cream cheese laying around that I needed to use.  I would feel really bad letting some cream cheese go bad without sending it to cream cheese heaven.  I thought about something savory and threw that out of the window.  I asked around and everyone said make a cheesecake.  I like a cheesecake, but to do it right it takes a good 24 hours from the time you make it to the time you eat it.  The perfect solution is to make a cheesecake bar.  To really make it these cheesecake bars sing I added some peanut butter cups.  I had some very happy friends when these babies were ready to be eaten.  I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen, which is a great resource if you are looking to make some new things.  Need to use up two bricks of cream cheese?  Endless inspiration.

This recipe came from Cookin’ Canuck.  Her blog has some great recipes and beautiful pictures.  I especially like her blog since we lived in Canada and our Ava is our little Canadian souvenir.  We lived in Nova Scotia for a few years and the people of Nova Scotia are some serious bakers.

These are easy to make, beautiful, and a huge hit with the peanut butter lovers in my house.

7 graham crackers
6 Tablespoons melted butter, cooled
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 packages cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 whole Reese Peanut Butter Cups, cut into 6 pieces
2 ounce semisweet chocolate melted

Line an 8-inch baking pan with foil.  Let about 3-4 inches of foil hang over so they will be easy to lift out.  Put the graham crackers in the food processor until the graham crackers are crushed fine.  Add the sugar, butter, flour and salt.  Pulse until combined.  Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until crust begins to brown.  Let cool while you make the filling.

Put the cream cheese in the processor and run until smooth.  I let it run for about 3 minutes.  Add in the sugar, and cream again until everything is light and fluffy.

Scrape the bowl and add in the eggs one at a time.

Add in the sour cream and vanilla.

Pour the batter into the cooled crust.  Add in 9 of the chopped peanut butter cups.  Save the rest for garnish.

Bake until the cheesecake is just set but the middle still jiggles.  About 35 to 40 minutes in a preheated 325 degree oven.  Rotate the pan halfway through baking.

Let the bars cool on a rack for 2 hours.  Cover with foil with and refrigerate for 3 hours before cutting.  Pull the bars from the pan and cut into squares.

Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the bars.  Top with the remaining peanut butter cups.

These bars were a huge hit.  If you like peanut butter cups, you will love these.