Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Woohoo, I'm back!

This is a pretty rare occurence--two posts in 1.5 days.

It's a treat, you guys.

And speaking of treat, these cheesecake bars are definitely a treat.

With a thick cracker crust and an oh-so-smooth creamy filling, they're simply irresistible. 

Mind you, I am eating a square of these as I speak (type?)

They're really nothing too technical or difficult, just the normal ingredients you'd find in a cheesecake poured over a thick cracker crust. Then sprinkle on some chocolate chips, lather on the strawberry jam, and that's what I'm talking about.

These were actually made for a Christmas party that I'm attending today. Yes, the snickerdoodles from yesterday were for the same party, too. But teenagers gotta eat. And did I mention that I'm bringing S'mores, too?

Let's hope I find time to make those. I'm going all out. After all, it is holiday season.

Back to the cheesecake bars.

Like I said, they're so simple to make.

Really, the one thing you need to even worry about is waiting for it to set in the fridge. Other than that, there's nearly nothing that could go wrong with these.

After you whip up the filling, you will have to pour it onto the cracker crust, and that was the only tricky part for me. The filling was really thick, and it took a lot of muscles to smooth it out. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but you do have to work for what you want to get, right?

The filling was really what drove me bonkers over this recipe. Four ingredients for the cream cheese filling, then an additional 2 ingredients of chocolate chips and strawberry jam. That's all it takes, folks. And of course, you can't forget the crust, but that's only 3 ingredients so it shouldn't even count. Easy as 1-2-3. 

Now, while I finish scraping off the crust crumbs off my plate, I'll leave you with the recipe.

Happy baking!

Baked Cheesecake--part 2

Holy smokes, that cheesecake was amazing!

Remember how I was so nervous about it yesterday? Well, turns out, that cheesecake was the best thing I've made BY FAR. And to be honest with you, I've been baking since I was 7 and a half, so that is a lot coming from me!

If you don't know the reason why there's a number 6 on that cheesecake, it's because my brother turned 6 today! I love that kid to death.

Without the candles, the cheesecake looks really plain and boring. In other words, kinda ugly. But under that ugly shell is a delicious, smooth, and dense baked cheesecake!

I was going to add a sour cream topping to dress it up a bit, but I forgot to buy sour cream! It still turned out really well though.

The cheesecake was so beautifully dense and smooth at the same time! It was definitely the epitome of a good, velvety baked cheesecake!

 Just look at how beautiful it was once it was cut up! Definitely something I'd make again and again!

And don't mind those little cracks and imperfections on top. Most of them came from when we scraped off the wax from the candles!

I had a big slice (: Good for the palette, but not good for the waistline......Whatever.

 Sooooooo good. The birthday boy liked it, and as long as he likes it, I'm happy!

I'm so, so, SO proud of this masterpiece and all the work I did to make it was totally worth it! A really good result for a first-timer! If you haven't read about the process of making it yet, you can read it here.

Happy baking!

Baked Cheesecake--Part 1

Do NOT ask me why I didn't use Philadelphia cream cheese...

Ah, so many of you have been waiting for this blog post after my super wordy and boring posts. And by "so many of you", I mean like nobody.

My cheesecake's just in the oven, and I figured I'd get a head start by writing the first part of the blog post first, since "so many of you" are waiting for it. 

You obviously can't see my face right now, but I actually am nervous and anxious about this cheesecake. I haven't had that same kind of nervousness over a baked good in SO long. There's just so much pressure on me to make sure this cheesecake is perfectly perfect.

I can't remember the last time I baked a cheesecake, and I had to admit I was kind of scared when my little brother told me he wanted a cheesecake for his birthday. I wasn't prepared for such a.....challenge. But I figured I'd do it anyway, since I'd practically do anything just to make that kid happy (: Whatever floats your boat, kid.

And well, I like that his birthday falls on a Wednesday. Then I get Monday to prepare the stuff, Tuesday to actually bake it, and then let the cheesecake chill overnight. 

I must say, though, I wasn't prepared for such an arm workout. Especially when it's summer and I'm eating 24/7.

The materials were actually so simple and easy to find. Most of them I already had at home. And if you're not in North America like me, Digestive biscuits are MUCH easier to find than graham crackers. For those of you in Hong Kong who are reading, any ideas where I could find some?

The "arm workout" part definitely came from the pounding of the biscuits. Wow, that took long. Poo.

I have to say, I haven't done the whole "rubbing in the butter" thing for SO long! I used to make pie crusts like that, but it just took so long and so much patience, which I don't have! I'm glad I did it for this recipe though!

 All baked and set!

And in the cream cheese goes! 

Then the eggs..............

And voila! All ready to go! 

Honestly, I'm freaking out right now. I really hope this cheesecake turns out well, fingers crossed!

Stay tuned for part 2--the final product!

 Happy baking!