The Strawberry Cheesecake Bars I’m Bringing to All My Potlucks This Yr

Why It Works

A mix of cream cheese and goat cheese provides the cheesecake a creamy texture and nice tanginess.
Gently cooking the strawberries concentrates the fruit’s taste and creates a jammy sauce for swirling by way of the filling.
Baking the cheesecake in a water tub ensures it cooks evenly and minimizes the chance of overcooking.

In Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s satirical novel Lengthy Island Compromise, one of many characters, Beamer, muses to himself about how a lot he loves cheesecake whereas his mom is on the telephone to inform him his grandmother has died: “The best way the bitter of the cheese attacked the perimeters of the tongue, the best way the salt of it assaulted the diameter unfold from the perimeters to the tip in order that the candy may have its means with your entire area. All this directly! Cheesecake!” It’s a ridiculous scene, and but I can’t assist however discover his practice of thought relatable. What number of occasions have you ever been in a very critical—even grave—dialog, solely to search out your thoughts drifting away to ideas of one thing extra nice, like cheesecake? No? I assume it’s simply me.

However actually, Beamer has some extent. Cheesecake ticks quite a lot of containers: It’s candy, savory, creamy, and tangy abruptly, and its versatility makes it a terrific canvas for different flavors corresponding to fruit, chocolate, and nuts. There’s a taste for each season: lemon ricotta within the spring, berries or stone fruit in the summertime, pumpkin or candy potato through the fall, and bittersweet chocolate or citrus fruit within the winter. Within the hotter months, I particularly take pleasure in pairing cheesecake with ripe, juicy strawberries from my native farmers market. Candy and tart, the fruit gives a vibrant foil to the richness of the cheesecake, serving to to loosen up an in any other case heavy dessert.

Critical Eats / Jen Causey

As majestic as an entire cheesecake is, generally I need one thing I can decide up by the slice. That’s the place cheesecake bars are available: Baked in a 9- by 13-inch baking pan, they are often simply portioned into squares for mess-free snacking at potlucks and picnics. The recipe under, which comes from our Birmingham, Alabama-based check kitchen colleague Melissa Grey, options jammy strawberries swirled right into a tangy combination of cream cheese, goat cheese, and lemon zest, all baked on prime of a buttery graham cracker crust.

Most cheesecake bars recipes name for spooning saucy strawberries on prime of the cheescake, however that may make them tough to eat and not using a plate and a fork. To maintain every slice mess-free however nonetheless filled with fruit, Melissa cooks the strawberries with a contact of cornstarch and sugar till they simply begin to break down, then swirls them into the filling. Cooking the strawberries concentrates their taste, and the small amount of cornstarch helps thicken the compote-like combination—this reduces the chance of introducing extra moisture into the cheesecake batter, which may hamper it from setting properly.

Melissa additionally added one other twist to her bars: Along with cream cheese, she additionally makes use of goat cheese within the filling, which brings a delicate tartness to the combination. One other professional transfer Melissa incorporates in her cheesecake recipe is baking the assembled dessertin a water tub, which ensures it cooks evenly and minimizes the chance of overcooking. The result’s a silky easy cheesecake that’s wealthy and creamy, and one price bringing to all of your picnics, potlucks, and barbecues.

The recipe was developed by Melissa Grey; the headnote was written by Genevieve Yam.

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For the Crust:

Cooking spray, see notes
8 1/2 ounces graham cracker crumbs (240 g; 2 cups), see notes
1 3/4 ounces granulated sugar (50 g; 1/2 cup)
1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
4 ounces unsalted butter (113 g; 8 tablespoons), melted

For the Filling:

12 ounces chopped contemporary strawberries (340 g; 2 cups)
4 teaspoons (12 g) cornstarch
9 1/2 ounces granulated sugar (267 g; 1 1/3 cups), divided
Three 8-ounce packages cream cheese (24 ounces; 680 g), at room temperature
8 ounces goat cheese (226 g; about 1 cup), at room temperature
3/4 ounces all-purpose flour (24 g; 3 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon lemon zest plus 1/2 tablespoon contemporary juice from 1 medium lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
4 massive eggs (7 ounces; 200 g), at room temperature
Scorching water

Alter oven rack to center place, and preheat oven to 375°F (190ºC). Utilizing baking spray with flour, evenly coat a 9- by 13-inch baking pan. Line backside and sides with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides; put aside.

Critical Eats / Jen Causey
Put together the Crust: In a medium bowl, stir cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt to mix. Stir in melted butter till moistened; scrape into ready baking pan. Unfold into a fair layer; utilizing a flat-bottomed ingesting glass or measuring cup, firmly press till crumbs type a compact, even layer throughout the underside of the pan. Bake till aromatic and evenly golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack whereas making ready filling, about half-hour. Cut back oven temperature to 325°F (160ºC).

Critical Eats / Jen Causey
For the Filling: In a small saucepan, mix strawberries, cornstarch, and 1/3 cup (67g) of the sugar. Prepare dinner over medium warmth, stirring usually, till strawberries start to interrupt down and combination is thickened, about 5 minutes. Take away from warmth; let cool for half-hour, stirring sometimes.

Critical Eats / Jen Causey
In the meantime, within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and goat cheese on medium pace till easy and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as wanted. Add flour, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1 cup (200 g) sugar; beat on low pace till simply mixed, about 15 seconds. Improve mixer pace to medium, and beat till properly mixed, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as wanted. With mixer on low pace, add eggs, one after the other, mixing till simply mixed after every addition; combination needs to be barely thickened and easy. Put aside till prepared to make use of. (Alternatively, an electrical hand mixer can be utilized to organize filling.)

Critical Eats / Jen Causey
Pour filling into cooled crust, and place baking pan in a big roasting pan. Utilizing a tablespoon, drop small dollops of cooled strawberry combination on prime of cream cheese combination. Utilizing a butter knife, offset spatula, or skewer, gently swirl into filling, taking care to keep away from chopping into the crust.

Critical Eats / Jen Causey
Place roasting pan in oven, and, utilizing a big spouted measuring cup or kettle, rigorously add scorching water till it reaches 1 inch up sides of baking pan. Bake till edges are set, prime seems to be dry, and heart is sort of absolutely set, 40 to 50 minutes. Utilizing oven mitts or kitchen towels, rigorously take away baking pan from roasting pan, and let cool on wire rack till room temperature, about 1 hour, half-hour. Cowl and refrigerate till chilled, not less than 4 hours or as much as 12 hours. Run an offset spatula across the sides to separate from edges, and utilizing parchment overhang as handles, rigorously take away cheesecake from pan. Utilizing a pointy knife, slice bars into twelve 3-inch squares, and serve. (For cleaner cuts, run knife below heat water, and dry knife with a clear kitchen towel earlier than portioning every slice.)

Critical Eats / Jen Causey

Particular Gear

9- by 13-inch baking pan, flat-bottomed ingesting glass or measuring cup, wire rack, stand mixer or hand mixer, massive roasting pan, massive spouted measuring cup or kettle, oven mitts or kitchen towels

Notes

If you happen to don’t have cooking spray, you’ll be able to evenly grease the pan with unsalted butter or impartial oil, corresponding to canola or vegetable.

To make your individual graham crackers: Within the bowl of a meals processor, grind 16 complete graham crackers (240 grams) till finely floor, or place graham crackers in a gallon-size zip-top bag, seal tightly, and crush crackers with a rolling pin.

Bitter cream will be substituted for goat cheese.

For pink cheesecake bars, fold cooled strawberry combination into cheesecake batter till well-incorporated.

Make-Forward and Storage

The batter will be made forward and refrigerated in an hermetic container for as much as 1 week. Let batter come to room temperature earlier than baking.

The bars will be refrigerated in an hermetic container for as much as 5 days.

The Strawberry Cheesecake Bars I’m Bringing to All My Potlucks This Yr

Why It Works

The recipe was developed by Melissa Grey; the headnote was written by Genevieve Yam.