Right off the bat I must admit, I have never been a cheesecake lover. It's not something I ate a lot growing up, but I've grown to enjoy it a lot more in recent years. So when I had all the left over Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese, from my waffle recipe last week, I figured why not give cheesecake a chance. These squares are sooooo good. They are sweet and a little bit salty (thanks to the base), rich, but still gluten free, and trust me you'll want to eat the whole pan in one sitting. These are a must try, whether you are a cheesecake lover or not!
What's on your grocery list?
- TJ's Salted Toffee Gluten Free Cookies ($3.99)
- TJ's Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese Spread ($3.99)
- Butter ($2.99 the Miyokos one is $4.99 but is vegan and tastes great too)
- White Sugar ($3.49 for 32 oz)
- Vanilla extract (a little on the expensive side I think around $7.49 but it's something you should have in your pantry that will last forever)
- Cornstarch (I believe most TJ's carry it but mine did not)
- Eggs ($1.69/dozen)
- Salt ($1.99)
- Dark Chocolate ($4.99 but you'll have so much leftover)
- Coconut Oil ($4.99 and will last forever) or vegetable shortening
These are all the ingredients I used, aside from the salt! You can use standard butter, I just happened to have the rest of the Miyokos Butter from my waffle recipe, and it worked great!
Prep Time: 2+ hours
Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Servings: 12-15 squares
Ingredients:
- 1- 1 1/4 cups cookie crumbs (you can use whatever base you like but I highly recommend using the Salted Toffee GF cookies)
- 1 tub TJ's Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese Spread
- 3 1/2 - 4 Tbsp butter (more as needed)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch (I believe most TJ's carry it but mine did not)
- 1 egg
- Dash of salt
- 6 oz or 2-3 rows of the Pound Plus Dark Chocolate bar
- 1 spoonful coconut oil or vegetable shortening
Instructions:
The first step is to make the cookie crust, I could eat this crust all day long, it's sooo good. To start place 12 cookies in a large ziploc bag (add more as needed) and break them into crumbs using whatever you have available, I pounded them with a hard plastic cup. Meanwhile melt 3 1/2 - 4 Tbsp of butter in a microwave safe mug. Once your cookie crumbs are free of large chunks, add them to a bowl. Then pour in melted butter, mixing as you go, crumbs should be well coated but not drenched. Add more butter if necessary.
Once cookie crumbs are fully coated, add to an 8x8 glass baking dish coated with olive oil or coconut spray. I don't have an 8x8 dish, so I used a larger dish and section off the part I was using with foil (it actually worked very well).
Spread crust evenly then press it down using the back of a spoon or your fingers. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and set crust aside.
The next step, is the filling. Add the entire tub of cream cheese to a medium sized bowl, then use an electric mixer to beat until cream cheese becomes light and fluffy, this should take about 3 minutes. One by one add in sugar, vanilla, corn starch, egg, and salt, beating cream cheese after each addition. Once all ingredients have been added, you will end up with a pourable batter (this also tastes amazing on its own). Pour batter over the crust, I poured from the right hand side as I was nervous that it would seep past the crust and foil, but it ended up being fine.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 325 degrees. I started with 25 minutes then added another 5 as it was still pretty jiggly in the center.
After cheesecake is cooked through, let it sit on the stove top for about 20 minutes. Then cover with foil or plastic wrap and freeze. I left mine in the freezer overnight as I started this project at about 10pm, however, it should be ready after 2-3 hours in the freezer.
After 2-3 hours, or the next morning if you're like me, remove cheesecake from freezer and slice into squares. As you can tell from the picture above, mine began to crack, close to the foil, so I cut off those edges with a sharp knife (but still plan to eat them). It shouldn't be to hard to cut, as long as you have a sharp knife and drag it slowly and precisely through the cake. You may have to go back and cut over the same place twice, so just be patient, I recommend using a spatula to get the squares out.
Microwave about 6 oz of dark chocolate or 2-3 rows of the pound plus bar along with a spoonful of coconut oil or vegetable shortening, in a small bowl for 1 minute intervals, until chocolate is fully melted. Mix to ensure there are no pockets of oil, then one by one dip squares into the chocolate, crust side up. The squares are fantastic without the chocolate as well, so I only dipped about half of mine but you could certainly forgo this step altogether.
If you are at all into sweets you must try these ASAP, when they announced the spread, TJ's said the Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese was a holiday item only so who knows how much longer they'll have it. Let me know what you think!
xx Delaney