These peanut butter cheesecake bars are loaded with flavor and texture. There’s the creamy cheesecake filling, topped with a chocolate ganache and finished with chopped peanut butter cups. It’s an impressive dessert pretty enough for any table, especially a special dinner or holiday gathering.
About Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
These peanut butter cheesecake bars are a layered dessert. It starts with a crushed OREO crust, layered with a creamy peanut butter cheesecake filling. A chocolate ganache coating is the final layer to these heavenly bars.
These bars aren’t difficult to make, but they do take a while to bake and let cool. The good news is that this dessert actually gets better the longer it rests. So, you can make it ahead of time and finish it off just before serving.
For the OREO crust you can use a food processor to get fine crumbs. But, if you don’t have a food processor you can also place the Oreo cookies in a Ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. I like to use a meat pounder with a smooth finish to crush the Oreos and then I roll over the crushed Oreos to make a fine crumb. It’s a very satisfying process š
For the peanut butter cheesecake mixture, I like to start with room temperature ingredients. This is especially true when it comes to cream cheese. Letting the cream cheese come to room temperature makes it easier to cream together with the sugar. I like to use an electric mixer for this recipe. You can also use a large bowl and hand mixer if you prefer, but to me it’s a lot easier to use a stand mixer.
When it comes to the peanut butter you use for these peanut butter cheesecake bars, it’s best to stick with a commercial peanut butter like Skippy or Jif. I don’t like baking with natural peanut butter because the oil separates too much and the texture is just all wrong. You’ll get a much creamier filling when you stick with a store-bought creamy peanut butter.
Ingredient Options
If you don’t have Oreos, or you want a different flavor combination, you can use a graham cracker crust. I like how the chocolate cookie crust mixes with the top layers, but substituting graham crackers for the crushed Oreos is a great option. You would still mix the graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and bake the crust. This is a step that you can do ahead of time since you need a cooled crust before you bake cheesecake bars.
This peanut butter cheesecake bars recipe calls for using chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups in the filling and as a topping. I like to use the mini peanut butter cups because I like the chocolate to peanut butter ratio in this size. However, you can use regular peanut butter cups if you prefer. You could also use peanut butter chips, or a mix of peanut butter morsels and chocolate morsels to top these .
And speaking of chocolate, let’s talk about the chocolate ganache. You can use whatever type of chocolate you want for this layer. Whether you opt for milk chocolate, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate chips, you’ll get a chocolate layer that will blend perfectly with the peanut butter cheesecake layer.
Tips for Baking Cheesecake Bars
If you’ve made a classic cheesecake before you may be used to using a water bath to bake it. However, these peanut butter cheesecake bars do not use a hot water bath. Instead, these bars are baked in the oven for 55-60 minutes and then they cool in the oven for an additional hour. This is an indirect heating method as the oven with be turned off and the oven door should be opened a bit. This lets the peanut butter cheesecake bars continue to bake and to cool down gradually as the temperature in the oven decreases.
Baking times can vary, so I would start checking the bars at about 35-40 minutes to see if they are done. This is especially true if you substitute the 9×11 baking pan and use a different size. The edges should be set, but the center will still be a little jiggly when you shake the pan.
Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Bars
Equipment
- Parchment Paper
- 9"x11" Baking Pan
- Hand Mixer
- Food Processor optional
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups Oreos crushed
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Cheesecake
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- Ā½ cup peanut butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Ā¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 Ā½ tablespoons vanilla extract
- Ā½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup peanut butter cup pieces
- Chocolate ganache:
- 1 cup chocolate dark, milk or semisweet
- Ā½ cup heavy cream
- Ā½ teaspoon salt
- Ā½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Toppings
- Peanut butter melted
- Peanut butter cup pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Crush the Oreos in a food processor or place in a plastic bag and beat with a rolling pin until they are fine crumbs.
- In a medium sized bowl, add crushed Oreos and melted butter. Use a fork to blend together until a crumbly mixture forms.
- Pour Oreo mixture into the prepared baking dish. Press into the bottom to create an even layer of crust.
- Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool on wire rack.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the peanut butter and blend again until combined.
- Add the sugar, salt and flour. Mix until combined.
- Add each egg to the mixture one at a time, mixing in between each addition. With the addition of the last egg, also add the vanilla extract and sour cream. Mix until smooth.
- Fold in the peanut butter cup pieces, spreading evenly throughout the cheesecake filling.
- Pour the cheesecake filling into the baking pan on top of the cooled Oreo crust.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecake are set and the center is still a bit jiggly. Then turn off the oven and open the oven door. Let it sit in the oven and finish baking for another hour.
- Once the cheesecake is done, let chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to serve, make the ganache.
- In a heat safe bowl add the chocolate and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream over medium heat until steaming, but not boiling.
- Pour the hot heavy cream over the chocolate and let sit for 3 minutes before stirring.
- Whisk together until a smooth ganache is formed. Add the vanilla extract and mix again until combined.
- Pour the ganache evenly over the cheesecake bars, spreading with a rubber spatula, offset knife, or spoon if necessary.
- Cut the peanut butter bars.
- To top each individual piece, melt some peanut butter and drizzle on top. Add a few pieces of peanut butter cup to finish.
Notes
- Can bake ahead and refrigerate until ready to top with ganache and serve.
- Refrigerate and store cookies in an airtight container.
Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cookie Bars
With peanut butter flavor in the creamy filling and toppings, these peanut butter cheesecake bars are a peanut butter lovers dream dessert. And I love that it’s a dessert that gets better the longer you let it chill. This makes it the perfect dessert to make ahead. Bake peanut butter cheesecake bars 1-2 days before you want to serve them. On the day you want to serve them, simply top the peanut butter cheesecake cookie bars with chocolate ganache and chopped peanut butter cups. Your guests will be so impressed when you serve these dessert bars.
More delicious peanut butter recipes:
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