chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bars.

Usually, I loathe cheesecake. (Don't like cheese in general.) But how plebeian is chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake in adorable bar form?

The rich and sweet truffles of cookie dough were are perfect contrast to the tart and creamy cheesecake filling. The graham cracker crust was just a bonus. I purposely formed large balls of cookie dough instead of smaller ones to scatter across the surface because I wanted to make the cookie dough to go like boom! in your face! Plus, then no one would fight over which piece has more claim on cookie dough. Oh and slicing would be so much easier too.

The problem with doing that was the large clumps of cookie dough were extremely hard to stick your fork into. I mean, you can't swallow the entire chunk of dough in one mouthful, unlike smaller ones right? Occasionally, the resistance of the cookie dough to budge against the pressure of your fork would cause the bar to travel halfway across your plate and do a somersault while at it, and the graham cracker crumbs would disappear from your plate onto the table. That's some messy eating.

While these bars are pretty good as they are, to really emphasize on the chocolate chip cookie dough flavour, I feel that brown sugar instead of white should be used in the cheesecake filling, bringing about a toffee-ish flavour, and chocolate chips should be added to the crust, for more chocolaty oomph.

P.S. I actually forgot all about the bars while they were baking and I didn't know if I baked them for the correct amount of time. My oven timer spoilt, see. I sent the bars into the oven, turned the dial a few degrees and left the kitchen. Only more than half an hour later did I find that the oven's light had gone off, which meant that the time (which I didn't know) I set it to bake had run out, and the cheesecake bars sitting in a semi-cold oven. I was so lucky to not have overbaked the bars. This was the first time I completely forgot about something in the oven. Gosh am I getting old?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
makes an 8 x 8 inch pan's worth
recipe adapted from My Baking Addiction

For a chocolate chip cookie dough flavour through and through, use brown sugar in the cheesecake filling instead of white sugar and add some chocolate chips to the crust before baking.

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tbsp melted butter

For the cookie dough:
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips

For the cheesecake filling:
300g cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment.

For the crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl and press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Leave the oven on.

For the cookie dough: Cream the butter, sugars, salt and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.

For the cheesecake filling: Cream the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth.

Pour the filling on top of the crust. Break off the cookie dough into large clumps and scatter them across the surface of the cheesecake filling. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the surface looks dry and firm and the cheesecake is set. Cool completely before refrigerating. Refrigerate until cold before serving.