Cheesecake Brownie Bars

 This little creation is a collaboration with my son, and it's hardly a recipe but I documented what we used for our own future reference and to share a starting point to what is a very flexible and adaptable treat - no bake brownie cheesecake bars.

Jump to recipe

Last week my son learned that it was National Children Take Over the Kitchen Day and he enthusiastically embraced it and came up with dishes he could cook almost completely on his own and fed us all day. He's not even 7 yet so I was very impressed with both his determination and level of skill. He made soft boiled egg with toast and butter for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch and spaghetti bolognese for dinner. Pretty well rounded day!

For dessert we collaborated in coming up with a no bake, recipe free treat we could all enjoy, and it started with his idea to crush up some madeleine cookies that went uneaten because we've been so busy baking in our kitchen over the past few months. We mixed them with some cocoa, some coconut flakes and added almond butter and coconut oil for binding, then pressed them in the bottom of a parchment lined loaf pan and let it set in the fridge while we worked on the next layer.

I was sort of thinking cheesecake as a starting point, and as it happened I had instant pudding with a cheesecake flavor, but I figured it wouldn't set firmly enough to cut as bars on its own, so we started with room temperature cream cheese, we thinned it out with almond milk then whipped it up with the pudding mix. The resulting cream was smooth but thick and rich, and we spread it over the brownie base then put it in the freezer to set more firmly and more quickly. 

Finally, the fruit topping - we cleaned out the fridge for this one and used strawberries, blueberries and peaches cut up to be about evenly sized with the smallest of them (the blueberries). A splash of cranberry juice (water would be ok too) and a bit of cornstarch were all they needed to soften and thicken on the stove for a quick and delicious final layer. Sweeten to taste if needed, our fruit was sweet enough that we didn't add anything else, but a bit of sugar or honey would work here to balance out the flavors. After spreading the fruit we returned the pan for a final hour in the freezer to set together, then sliced while still cold and let it warm up a bit before enjoying. 

These bars work well straight out of the freezer almost like ice cream sandwiches, or warmed to fridge/room temperature as indulgent cheesecake bars. All of us were big fans of the final result and my son was incredibly proud of the fruits of his labor - all day, not just dessert. I love seeing him embrace a love of cooking.

---

Cheesecake Brownie Bars

Ingredients

• 4-5 crushed madeleine cookies
• 2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 2 tbsp toasted coconut flakes
• 1 tbsp melted coconut oil

• 3 oz cream cheese or Neufchatel
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 packet cheesecake flavored instant pudding 

• 1 lb mixed fruit, chopped
• 1/4 cup cranberry juice
• 2-3 tbsp cornstarch

Method

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper for easy removal
2. Crush up cookies - for the individually packaged madeleines, pressing them in the packet works well, then open each bag and pour into medium mixing bowl.
3. Add all the other crust ingredients - cocoa powder, coconut flakes, almond butter and coconut oil and mix well. Only add as much coconut oil as you need to bind all the crumbs together in a smooth dough.
4. Press mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan and chill to set.
5. Whisk cream cheese with hand mixer to soften and smooth out before adding milk to get a thinner creamy consistency. 
6. Add pudding mix and whisk until well incorporated and it starts to set. 
7. Spread over brownie base, then return to fridge or place in freezer to set.
8. Mix all three fruit layer ingredients together and cook on medium heat to a simmer, stirring frequently. 
9. Continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until thickened and the fruit is softened, stirring constantly to prevent burning or clumping.
10. Let cool to room temperature, then spread over set cheesecake layer.
11. Return to freezer until firm, then pull out of pan using parchment and cut up in serving portions.
12. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Notes

• If you don't happen to have a lot of forgotten madeleine cookies in your pantry, crushed graham crackers or other stale treats could work as well, just tweak the amount of wet ingredients accordingly to get a thick paste consistency
• Coconut flakes are optional, you can also include chocolate chips, dry fruit or nuts for extra flavor and texture.
• Any nut butter works well, as well as melted butter instead of coconut oil if you prefer.
• White chocolate instant pudding or even vanilla would work well here, it just helps set the cream cheese mixture without egg or baking.
• We used strawberries, blueberries and peaches for the fruit layer, but almost any combination would work here - depending on the amount of pectin in the fruit, you may have to adjust the amount of cornstarch needed to thicken the mixture appropriately. If the bars are served frozen there's a lot of room for error in this part :)