Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

My digital camera has ceased to function. These tasties vanished so quickly I was unable to acquire a photo through other means. Here is an artistic rendering of these delicious treats. By "artistic rendering" I mean "mediocre sketch thrown together in a few minutes in GIMP."


Evil Bitch-Monster of Death's Fruit Preserves Cheesecake Bars recipe

Cheesecake Bars Instructions:

1 – Make about half a recipe of cookie dough OR a bunch of crumb crust and bake according to directions. Cool.
2 – Spread 3/4 c. fruit preserves* evenly onto top of cooled crust.** Let it sit there a while and soak into the crust. A few hours should do it, more if storing in the fridge.
3 – Make Cheesecake Bar Filling and pour / spread evenly over jam-covered crust.
Bake at 335 degrees for 40 minutes. The middle will be a bit jiggly. If it looks too jiggly, bake ~10 minutes more. Cool.
4 – Make Sour Cream Fruit topping and pour / spread evenly over cooled cheesecake.
Bake whole thing again at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. Cool.

Refrigerate until set (overnight, at least 8 hours). Refrigerate some more so the preserves and cheesecake soak into the crust. Make a day or so in advance, or have a springform 9 x 13 and ignore this part.
Try to cut into bars. Expect about 1/4 of them to come out wonky and in need of immediate consumption. The nice ones will indeed look very nice.

* You don't have to make your own fruit preserves. Just make sure to use fruit preserves and not jelly.

** Optional: instead of spreading fruit preserves onto crust, beat them into the cheesecake bar filling.

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Cookie Dough:

1/2 c. butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
-- cream all together
1 c. flour
3/4 c. chocolate chips
-- add, mix well

Press dough into greased 9 x 13 pan evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for ~15 to 20 minutes. Let cool.


Crumb crust:

1 c. flour
1 c. finely chopped nuts
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp. salt
-- mix all together well
1/3 c. butter, melted
-- add, mix well with fork

Once crumb crust is evenly moistened by melted butter, press evenly into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for ~15 minutes. Let cool.

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Fruit Preserves:

1 quart fruit
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
2 to 3 tblsps lemon, lime, or pineapple juice

Put fruit and sugar in a stove-top safe stainless steel pot, mix up, and let sit about 4 to 8 hours. The sugar keeps it from spoiling -- don't fret.
After 4 to 8 hours, mix up again and slowly bring the sugar-fruit mixture to a boil. Make sure all sugar is dissolving.
Once boiling and sugar is dissolved, add lemon, lime, or pineapple juice. Boil until 220 degrees F (about 15 minutes, until translucent and thick).
Remove from heat and cool in a shallow pan for about a day.
Store in fridge or jar/can.

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Cheesecake Bar Filling:

2 packages 8 oz. cream cheese (16 oz. total), softened
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
-- beat all together with electric mixer, ~2 minutes
3 eggs
-- beat on low until well-blended

Note: this is one more egg than typical cheesecake recipe of this ratio, because bars need to be more firm to hold up to cutting.

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Sour Cream Fruit topping:

version 1:
1 c. sour cream (8 oz.)
1 yogurt, fruit-flavored (about 4 oz.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

version 2:
1 1/2 c. sour cream (12 oz.)
1/4 c. fruit preserves (not jelly)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Mix all ingredients together util well blended.