Strawberry Cheesecake Bars w/ Strawberry Topping
These strawberry cheesecake bars are made with a graham cracker crust, creamy cheesecake filling, and easy strawberry topping.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ⅓ cups Graham crackers crumbs
- ⅓ cup Butter unsalted, melted
Cheesecake filling
- 22 oz Cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup Sour cream
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon Lemon zest
- 1 ½ tablespoon Cornstarch
Strawberry topping
- 15 oz Strawberries fresh or frozen
- ⅓ cup Granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch mixed with a little bit of water
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare a 9x9 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
- Make the crust: pulse graham crackers in a food processor until fine crumbs form. If you don’t have a food processor on hand, place the crackers in a Ziplock bag and smash the crackers with a cup until fine crumbs form.
- Into a small to medium mixing bowl, add the graham crackers crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the crumbs are coated with butter.
- Transfer the crumbs into a baking sheet lined 9 by 9 inch pan, pressing evenly and firmly into the pan.
- Bake the crust in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 8 minutes. Keep an eye on the crust and make sure it doesn’t burn. Take the crust out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature while you make the filling.
- Lower the oven to 160c (320f).
- Into a large mixing bowl, add the room-temperature cream cheese, lemon zest, sour cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract, and mix with an electric hand mixer until is creamy.
- Whisk the eggs and egg yolk in a small bowl add them to the cheesecake mixture and mix until the mixture is smooth.
- Sift the cornstarch into the mixture and mix until combined and there are no lumps of cornstarch showing.
- Pour the cheesecake filling onto the baked crust and smooth it out with a spatula.
- Bake the cheesecake a 160c (320f) for 30-40 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecake are set, but the middle is a bit jiggly.
- Open the oven door halfway, and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature for 1 hour.
- After the cheesecake is cooled, wrap the cheesecake with plastic wrap tightly, and place the cheesecake in the fridge to cool completely for at least 5 hours.
Make the strawberry topping
- In a saucepan, add strawberries that are cut in half, add the sugar, and lemon juice, and mix over medium-high heat.
- Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes mixing occasionally.
- Mix the cornstarch in a small bowl with a little bit of water and pour it into the strawberry mixture mixing constantly. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes until the mixture thickens. Set aside and let it cool completely.
- Top the cheesecake with the strawberry topping and spread it evenly with an offset spatula.
Notes
- Make sure that you are using room-temperature cream cheese in this recipe, this step makes it easier to mix the cream cheese with no unnecessary lumps, we don’t want that.
- For a smooth strawberry topping, you can use an immersion blender to blend the strawberry topping after its cooked to your desired consistency.
- Use high-fat cream cheese or the well-known Philadelphia cream cheese. Using full-fat cream cheese ensures that your cheesecake will be stable and will not crack.
- Use ripe, juicy strawberries for the best flavor in your sauce. Look for berries that are deep red in color and fragrant.
- Let your cheesecake chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours. We know it’s very hard to resist eating this delicious cheesecake right away, but you have to let the cheesecake cool and set it in the pan. I like to let the cheesecake sit in the fridge overnight.
- For a smooth and creamy cheesecake, make sure that you are using room-temperature ingredients. Before you begin to make this cheesecake, make sure that your cream cheese is completely soft, and that your eggs are at room temperature.
- Don’t overbeat the mixture! It's really easy to overbeat the mixture, and that is one of the most common mistakes. To avoid overbeating your mixture, make sure that you lower the speed of the hand mixer and add each egg at a time.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to ensure that you have a homogeneous mixture that has no cream cheese lumps.
- Don't open the oven door before the cake is fully baked or about to be baked! Drastic changes in the temperature of the cake while baking can cause the cake to collapse or crack.
Nutrition
Calories: 414kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 6gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 117mgSodium: 286mgPotassium: 173mgFiber: 1gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 1001IUVitamin C: 22mgCalcium: 85mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!