January 8, 2013

Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars

 
Oh my word.  These things are amazing.  

Since I need to get back to "being good" when it comes to eating, I decided to make this dessert as one last over-indulgent thing to stuff my face with before getting back on track.  Actually I've spent the last 2 weeks eating anything and everything I want - that was my way of gearing up for the deprivation that was to come.  Unfortunately, doing this only added to the lbs I'm ultimately trying to get rid of.  But whatever....I enjoyed every single bite of every single bad thing I ate and I have no regrets!  I think it's indulging is just necessary sometimes. 

This is yet another recipe I've had in my pile, and I've been meaning to make it for quite some time.  I wasn't sure if it would be too sweet, so I guess that's why I held off making it for so long.  It's probably just as well because these things were addicting and I couldn't get enough of them!  So, so good.  That's really all I can say.  My husband absolutely LOVED these, as they encompass all of his favorites - oatmeal, butterscotch and cheesecake.  I'm telling you, you gotta try these things!




Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars (adapted from Anne Burrell

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1 ½ cups butterscotch chips
1 tsp ground cinnamon 
1/4 tsp salt
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9x13 baking dish liberally with cooking spray.

In the bowl of a food processor add the brown sugar, flour, oats and pulse to combine. Add the 2 sticks of butter, cinnamon, salt and the butterscotch chips. Pulse until mixture forms clumps. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer and set aside the other half. Bake until slightly golden and set, about 12-14 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon zest and vanilla until it's nice and smooth. Spread evenly over the baked & cooled oatmeal mixture. Sprinkle the remaining half of the oatmeal mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Bake until the top is golden and set - about 40 minutes.

Chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours before cutting and serving.

14 comments:

  1. Wow, this sounds simply awesome! Loved the look of these cheesecake bars. Wish you a very happy new year.

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  2. Do you think low fat cream cheese and fat free condensed milk would work in this recipe?

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    1. Good question. While I have not tried it, I do think it would be OK to substitute those lower fat options. There's only one way to find out....

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  3. These look amazing! My favorite part of bars is the crumble topping :)

    http://letslivelavida.blogspot.com/

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  4. And that's why I love these things - you get the topping on the bottom as well....what could be better than that?? Thanks for commenting :)

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  5. Hi Joy,

    I wanted to let you know that YumGoggle featured this photo today on their Facebook and Google + pages. I looked around your site and couldn't find a Facebook fan page for Little B.

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    1. Awesome & thanks for letting me know! I don't have a FB page for my blog...maybe some day if I get a lot of followers :)

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  6. Hi Little B,

    This looks stunning, I will have to try it.

    Soph

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  7. Why no egg in the cheesecake batter? Just curious :)

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    1. I believe the addition of the condensed milk takes the place of and produces the same result as using the eggs.

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  8. How well do you think this would do as individual cheesecakes in a muffin pan?

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    1. I think that would work out OK - just be careful on the cooking time. I haven't done it this way, but I'm sure it wouldn't take as long to cook. I'd check at the 15-20 minutes mark to see if it's done. Good luck!

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  9. Do these need to stay refrigerated after they're cut into pieces? I wanted to send them in the mail.

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    1. Yes, I always refrigerate them. But if you overnight them they might be ok.

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