Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
There’s a funny story (not so funny at the time) behind these Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Bars and how they came about.
Every year two of my girlfriends and myself go to the US to do some Christmas shopping. This past year, along with clothes, toys and treats that I bought for my kids, I picked up some Giant Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars. Both of my boys are big fans of the cups so I knew they’d enjoy these.
When I returned home on the Sunday after shopping all weekend, I put all the gifts I purchased in our cold room. Now if you saw my cold room, it’s a dark room at the front of our house filled with spiderwebs and dust and it’s packed full of totes and seasonal items. It’s not a place where our kids venture too often except to grab the occasional pop from the bar fridge. The bar fridge is also right at the entrance so there’s not even a need to pull the string to turn the light on, let alone venture inside for anything else.
So when I put my purchases at the back of the cold room, on top of a pile of totes, I thought for sure they would 1) never find them, or 2) never even think to look in the smelly cold room for presents. Ya, I was completely wrong! Not only did they find them, they looked through the bags, moved stuff onto other totes, left the bags wide open, and left the light on! Needless to say, my two boys aren’t very good at being sneaky (that might be a good thing, right?).
Anyways, my husband and I approached our two boys and right away they knew they were caught. Our voices and the look on our faces must have tipped them off! Of course, as with most siblings, they each blamed the other one for snooping. One said that he found them but didn’t look, the other one said he looked but only because the other one showed him first. We weren’t getting a straight story and we knew that they had ruined the surprise of some of their gifts. To give my husband and myself time to calm down, we sent them to their rooms and talked about what our next step should be. Disappointment, hurt and anger were all feelings I had but, honestly, I was also wondering how they couldn’t of been a little more discreet about the whole thing. I know when I snooped as a kid (yes, I did it too!) I put everything back perfectly so there was no chance of getting caught!
After talking back and forth for a bit we both decided that since they know what their presents are, we will return them to the store and they’ll also have to donate one gift to our local toy drive. Since most of the gifts were toys they were easy to take back but I also had bought some treats. Two bags of Sour Warheads and two Giant Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars which I couldn’t return. Of course the kids weren’t getting any of the treats so I was stuck with all this candy. That’s when I knew that baking with some of it would help me with the temptation of eating it!
So, that’s the story of how these delicious Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Bars came about.
Oh, and the kids aren’t getting any – I’m freezing them for the holidays!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Yield: 16 pieces
Delicious cheesecake bars filled with Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar chunks.
Ingredients
- For the Crust:
- 1 cup honey graham cracker crumbs
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- For the Filling:
- 2 (8 oz. each) packages cream cheese, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Grand Size Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar, cut into small chunks (or use 10-12 cups cut into small chunks)
- For the Topping:
- 2-3 Tbsp. milk chocolate chips
- 1 Tbsp. all natural peanut butter
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line an 8X8 pan with foil, leaving foil hang over all edges for easy removal of cheesecake bars. For the Crust: In a medium size bowl, add graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, flour and salt. Mix with a spoon, breaking up sugar balls until smooth. Add melted and cooled butter and mix until crumbs are coated. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly and press lightly with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 12-15 or until crust begins to brown. Remove and let cool for 30 minutes. For the Filling: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add cream cheese and mix until smooth and creamy. Add in sugar and mix again for about 1-2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one a time, until well incorporated. Add in sour cream and vanilla and continue to mix until well combined. Remove bowl from stand and gently fold in chocolate bar pieces. Pour mixture over cooled graham cracker crust and bake for 35-45 minutes or until filling is no longer jiggly in the middle, rotating pan once during baking. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate until you're reading to cut into squares. Using the overhanging foil, remove bars from pan and cut into 16 pieces. In a small bowl, melt chocolate and peanut butter in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Drizzle over cut bars and enjoy! Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin 2.2 http://asweetbaker.com/reeses-peanut-butter-chocolate-cheesecake-bars/Recipe adapted from Cookin Canuck
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