A perfect mashup of snickerdoodle cookies and a luscious cheesecake – all in a bar form! No water bath required!
Ah, the holidays are just around the corner, which means it’s cheesecake season in the Eva Bakes kitchen. I usually bake a few cheesecakes for my husband’s family and sometimes make one for ourselves or my extended family. While I love cheesecakes, they do take a while to make.
These snickerdoodle cheesecake bars have all the flavor of a traditional cheesecake but without the fuss of having to make a crust or worrying about your cheesecake cracking (hooray for no water bath!). Plus, these bars have a wonderful cinnamon flavor and aroma that will make your kitchen smell like the holidays.
I made these for an outdoor neighbor block party last month and was sad that they didn’t get gobbled up. However, I failed to label them and it was getting dark by the time people ate. I did give some to my skating friends and they loved them. My family did too, so there’s that.
I was shocked when my husband rated these a perfect 5 out of 5. He said that he was thinking about what could have been done to improve them, and he could not think of a single thing. I think I would have upped the cinnamon flavor a bit and used a coarser sugar for the topping to add a textural contrast. Otherwise, I liked these bars a lot.
Husband’s rating: 5 out of 5 (a rare perfect score!)
Addie’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Snickerdoodle cheesecake bars
Ingredients
Cheesecake layer
- 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Snickerdoodle cookie layer
- 2 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup (1 and ½ sticks) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon sugar topping
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Cheesecake layer
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Generously grease or line a standard 9”x13” pan and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the eggs, and vanilla and mix until well combined. Set aside (if you only own one stand mixer bowl like I do, you will want to transfer this batter into a separate large bowl since you will use the stand mixer bowl again in the next step).
Make the snickerdoodle layer
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a clean bowl of a stand mixer or in a separate large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until everything just comes together.
- Transfer about ⅔ of the cookie dough to your prepared baking pan. Use a spatula to smooth out the top.
- Pour the cheesecake mixture on top of the cookie layer. Add the remaining cookie dough on top of the cheesecake layer. I used my hands to break it up into smaller chunks and sprinkling it over the batter.
Make the cinnamon sugar
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon and the sugar. Sprinkle this on top of the cookie layer.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. The edges should be set and the center might look underdone and jiggle if you shake it.
- Allow the bars to cool before transferring to your refrigerator to cool completely, at least 1 hour.
- Slice and serve.