Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars

I can still write a Valentine's themed post, right?


Okay. Maybe not. Then let's share the real story why I made these a week ago and am only blogging now, shall we?

We shall. I actually totally forgot about blogging about these. Like, completely slipped my mind for an entire week. But I finally checked and saw that oh shoot, I had made a post about these like a week and a half ago and hadn't done anything about it since.

Oh well. You guys didn't mind, right?

Well anyway. These were good, but they would have been really good if I had cooked them for long enough. You see, the recipe (from The Baker Chick) said to cook until the sides were solid and the middle was a little jiggly. But I guess I have a skewed perception of what jiggly is, so I didn't cook it long enough and then after I cooled and refrigerated it it was still not solid for most of it. But it's okay because they still taste amazing.


I also had a conundrum with regards to the raspberry sauce. Since I made them in February and all, I did not have fresh raspberries at my disposal. So I used frozen raspberries. But when I blended them in the blender they turned into little raspberry pellet type things. Real small. But I just kept blending it and eventually it turned into a liquid-like state. Then I strained it and a lot of the liquid did come out (with my help) and the end of the raspberries which I couldn't reach in the blender warmed and became an actual liquid. So it all turned out fine.

Other than those two mishaps on my part I really liked this recipe.

Oh, except for the crust directions. The original said to use 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 4 tablespoons of butter. So I interpreted that as room temperature. Nope. It meant melted. But I learned that the hard way by mixing (very unsuccessfully, I might add) graham cracker crumbs and solid butter. It was tough. I was sad. Then I got my head on straight and melted three more tablespoons of butter and then it finally sort of came together. But not completely. But by that point I was so over it and just pressed it into the pan. Which I had mistakenly lined with aluminum foil instead of wax/parchment paper. Again, so done.

But other than that, I liked it.


Recipe (adapted from The Baker Chick):

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
16 ounces cream cheese/ neufchâtel cheese
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar

Mix together crumbs and butter until moist. Press into a parchment-paper-lined pan and bake at 350 for about 10 mintues.
Beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add in milk, eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy.
Pour/spread cream cheese mixture over the crust.
Blend raspberries and sugar in a blender or food processor until smooth. Press through a fine mesh sieve. Dot and swirl the raspberry sauce into the cream cheese mixture with a toothpick.
Bake at 350 for 30* minutes or until the edges are set and the middle is slightly jiggly. Cool on a wire rack then chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.


*I would recommend at least 40 minutes but just watch carefully. 

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