Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars!

OK, if any of you people are fans of sweets and/or cheesecake, you will love this recipe (Thank you, Duff)! It is amazing! It is just as wonderful as the name sounds. Enjoy!



Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

crust
1 1/2 cups graham crackers crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup (4 oz) miniature semisweet chocolate chips

dough
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

filling
10 oz cream cheese, at room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1 lg egg, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract


1/2 cup semisweet choc chips

make the crust -position a rack in the middle of the oven to 325 degrees. butter a 9 inch square baking pan and line the pan with a piece of parchment paper that is long enough to extend over two opposite sides of the pan. butter the paper.

in a medium bowl, stir the crumbs and melted butter together until the crumbs are evenly moistened. stir in the chocolate chips.
press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the prepared pan. bake for 6 minutes. transfer the pan to a wire rack. leave the oven on.

make the dough- in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. decrease the speed to low and add the flour, mixing it just to incorporate it. stir in the chocolate chips. set aside. (FYI- the "dough" will be crumbly with a different texture than normal cookie dough, just go with it. feel free to ball up the crumby mixture and just throw it on top of the cream cheese layer).

make the filling-in a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the cream cheese and sugar on low speed just until smooth. mix in the egg and vanilla, beating just to blend them in. pour the cheesecake batter into the crust. drop teaspoonfuls of the cookie dough over the top of the batter. bake until the top feels dry and firm and looks set if given a gentle shake, about 30 minutes. transfer the pan to a wire rack.
put the third of a cup chocolate chips in a small heat proof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler); the water should not touch the bowl. stir until the chocolate chips and melted and smooth.use a teaspoon to gently drizzle thin lines of melted chocolate over the top of the bars. cool the bars completely in the pan, about one hour. the chocolate topping will be set when the bars are cool.

loosen the sides of the bars form the unlined sides of the pan and use the ends of the paper to lift the bars from the pan. use a large knife to cute the bars into 16 pieces, wiping the knife clean as needed and slide the bars off the foil. the bars can be covered and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. serve cold or at room temp. (they are stiffer and more "bar" like when cold, just pointing out the obvious).


Viola!