It is time again for the “Secret recipe club” reveal! I am sure you all know what the club is about, but for the few of you who still don’t know about it, here goes a brief explanation. It is a great concept… each month you are assigned a participating food blogger to make a recipe from and in turn someone else will be assigned your blog. All you have to do is choose a recipe, make it and blog about it on the specified date. The only rule is to keep it a secret! If you are interested in learning more, or want to join the club, please visit the Secret recipe club website.
This month’s assignment was a total discovery as it was completely new to me. So weird when you think it is been out there for a while, cooking up a storm and delighting so many people! I am so grateful to the Secret Recipe Club for introducing me to Sweetly Serendipity written by the very talented Taryn! She is a fantastic and very passionate baker and I was tempted by many of her creations! As always, choosing what to make was not an easy task! In the end I decided to go for her Lemon Cheesecake Bars. Why?? Well, besides the fact that they looked amazing, the truth is I had never ever baked a cheesecake in my life! I know, I know… so weird for many of you reading this. But cheesecakes are not an Italian thing and I discovered them quite late in life. Even though I like them (a lot!), I have always been intimidated by the baked kind. So, I thought I should give these bars a try and overcome yet another one of my culinary taboos! And I was so so happy I did! I now see myself baking all kinds of cheesecakes!!! Hehehe I love lemon and citrus desserts, so I LOVED these. I think the shortcrust base is the perfect choice for these bars as the topping is a bit sour (though I guess that may vary depending on how sour your lemons are) and the sweet buttery base beautifully compensates for it. Also, I definitely encourage you to brûlée the tops. I love the crunchy and sweet layer up there… when you take a bite, all these contrasting flavours combine in your month and you can taste perfection!
Thank you so much for a fantastic recipe Taryn! Please, make sure you drop by Taryn at Sweetly Serendipity and check out her beautiful site!
Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Not available An amazing recipe for Lemon Cheesecake Bars with brûléed tops!
Ingredients
Crust
- 115 gms – ½ cup softened butter
- 100 gms – ½ cup granulated sugar
- 125 – 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of one lemon
Cheesecake
- 450 gms – 16 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- Zest and juice of 2 lemons
- 115 gms – ½ cup sugar granulated sugar
Instructions
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Line a 23x23 cm - 9x9 inch pan with baking paper and grease it with butter.
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Put the butter, sugar, flour, vanilla and lemon zest in a food processor and blend it until crumbly.
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Bake it in a preheated oven at 175°C - 350°F for 5 minutes.
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In the meantime, beat the softened cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy.
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Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and then add the lemon juice. Continue beating until well combined.
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Pour the cheesecake mixture onto the par-baked crust and return the pan to the oven.
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Bake it for 25-30 minutes or until the cheesecake is set and the centre is slightly jiggly.
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Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack before refrigerating for at least 3 hours.
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Once the cheesecake is completely set, remove it from the pan and slice it into 9 or 16 bars.
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Serve immediately, or sprinkle with granulated sugar and brûlée before serving.
Love the brûlée tops!
Hi, I’m an honorary group C member this month. 🙂 Your bars turned out amazing looking, great job.
These look gorgeous! I so love lemon and cheesecake so these are a win win for sure!
These look absolutely delicious Manu, I love all with lemon!
These certainly look heavenly – my husband loves any kind of lemon dessert – maybe I’ll make these for him if he plays his cards right – hee hee
Manuela: What a delicious looking dessert! I love the fact that the top of these cheesecake bars resembles a creme brulee. It makes them even more inviting.
Looks like a little bit of heaven!
These look INSANE! And I adore lemon!
You had me at cheesecake. 🙂
Congrats on making your first cheesecake! These bars looks great
I love lemon and your cheesecake looks wonderful!
I love lemon and cheesecake. These look wonderful.
yum Manu, how delicious
btw have you seen this post http://www.noodlies.com/2013/07/top-sydney-food-blogs-21-july-2013/ you are soooooo high on the list 🙂 congrats!
lemon cheesecake sounds awesome and in bar form? im sold!
When I saw the recipe I went straight to the supermarket to get the ingredients, I just wanted to make it. But…. I forgot that I dont have the right pan for such a cheese cake. With some improvising, the taste turned out wonderful, but they were not as high and as beautiful as in your blog. But what matters most is the taste, I guess… Next time I see a good pan I’ll buy it right away! Congrats on the recipe, it was very easy to follow. Maybe good to know that the oven temperature stays the same for both the crust and the cheese cake filling.
Hi Adri! I am so glad you liked the recipe! I have seen the pictures on Flickr and even without the “right” pan, it still looks delicious!!! Now I am craving some!!!! 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by and letting me know that you liked it! Happy weekend!
I tried to embed a flickr slideshow of the baking results, but I don’t think it worked…
http://www.flickr.com//photos/adridevrieze/sets/72157634807361785/show/with/9376713956/
Don’t know how I missed these on reveal day – you did a great job, they look fantastic! This is a great recipe and I’m really glad you enjoyed it. I need to make these again soon!!
Lemon and cheesecake – two of my favorite things! These look delicious!