We had to bid farewell to our wonderful paralegal Christina a few weeks ago; she's leaving us to head off to law school in the fall. Because the most convenient day to schedule her going away party happened to be the fifth of May, we went with a Cinco de Mayo theme. My boss volunteered to bring margaritas and I decided to bake for the theme with some Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars. Christina doesn't eat chocolate but has a fondness for everything else along the spectrum of sweet brown flavors (e.g., cinnamon, caramel, butterscotch, and coffee), so I thought the bars would be right up her alley.
These bars have a layer of dulce de leche cheesecake on top of a graham cracker crust, topped off with more dulce de leche. I'll admit that I cheated and just bought some jarred dulce de leche from Trader Joe's. The crust is a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter that you press into a pan and bake until golden. After the crust has cooled, you spread on a layer of cream cheese blended in the food processor with sugar, eggs, dulce de leche, and vanilla. You bake the cheesecake until puffed and set. After bars are cool you spread on a topping of more dulce de leche thinned with some heavy cream.
I chilled these bars overnight before cutting them and trimmed off all of the edges to get clean-looking slices. I tasted one of the scraps and it was so delicious that I saved all of the trimmings so that my husband and I could eat them later. The graham cracker crust is excellent -- I think the little bit of cinnamon makes it really stand out. And the middle layer of rich caramel cheesecake is amazing. For me, the dulce de leche topping was overkill and probably could have been replaced with just a drizzle -- but my tasters didn't seem to mind because they raved about the bars and quickly ate all of them at the party.
I would absolutely make these bars again. And Tom and I devoured every last bite of the edge trimmings I had set aside. It was hard saying goodbye to Christina, but I'm glad we were able to give her a festive and sweet send-off.
Recipe: "Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars" from epicurious.com.
Previous Posts:
These bars have a layer of dulce de leche cheesecake on top of a graham cracker crust, topped off with more dulce de leche. I'll admit that I cheated and just bought some jarred dulce de leche from Trader Joe's. The crust is a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter that you press into a pan and bake until golden. After the crust has cooled, you spread on a layer of cream cheese blended in the food processor with sugar, eggs, dulce de leche, and vanilla. You bake the cheesecake until puffed and set. After bars are cool you spread on a topping of more dulce de leche thinned with some heavy cream.
I would absolutely make these bars again. And Tom and I devoured every last bite of the edge trimmings I had set aside. It was hard saying goodbye to Christina, but I'm glad we were able to give her a festive and sweet send-off.
Recipe: "Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars" from epicurious.com.
Previous Posts:
- "How Sweet It Is: Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars," September 23, 2015.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Alfajores," May 12, 2013.
- "Lifestyles of the Rich and Caramel-y: Millionaire's Shortbread," May 29, 2012.
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