My mom has been making these bars for years, but before she found this recipe she would always make lemon bars once a year during Seafair. I thought those were my favorite, I would always wait around while she was cutting them up so I could steal some of the scraps. Now we have moved to the cheesecake bars, she makes them more often then once year because once you try them you will know, you just can't wait a whole year to have them again.
If you need a dessert and don't have a lot of time you can prepare this up to two days before you actually eat it. This is probably one of my absolutely favorite things.
Recipe: Martha Stewart's Everyday Food
Lemon Cheesecake Squares
Makes 16. Prep time :20 minutes. Total time: 3 hours
Make the Crust
- 8 graham crackers
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Make the Filling
- 2 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (2 or 3 teaspoons zest and about 3 tablespoons juice)
Crust:
1. Preheat over to 325 degrees. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch quare baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. Crimp overhang under rim of pan
2. In a food processor, blend graham crackers with sugar until finely ground; add butter and pulse until moistened.
3. Transfer crumb mixture to prepared pan, and pat in gently (wipe processor bowl clean, and reserve for making filling). Bake until beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. While crust is baking, make filling.
Filling:
1. Place cream cheese in food processor; blend until smooth. Add sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice; blend until smooth.
2. Pour mixture onto hot crust in pan; smooth top. Return to over and bake until set (filling should jiggle only slightly when pan is gently shaken). 30 to 35 minutes.
3. Cool completely in pan. Cover very loosely with plastic wrap; chill until firm, at least 2 hours (and up to 2 days). Use foil overhang to lift cheesecake out of pan. With metal spatula lift cheesecake from foil; cut 16 squares.
Some changes:
Use Vanilla wafers (any brand) instead of graham crackers. 1/2 the box.
For the cream cheese I use light or reduced fat.
There are many different variations you can do with this recipe, some examples; chocolate wafers with orange zest. Original cheesecake with strawberry or any other fruit topping. Oh the possibilities.
