Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Lime and white chocolate are a surprisingly good match. They are a great balance of sweetness and tartness.
Texture: The crust is buttery and crunchy while the filling is thick, luscious, and creamy.
Ease: Cheesecake bars are, of course, much easier than a full cheesecake.
Appearance: I think any dessert in bar form is super cute but unfortunately you can’t really tell this is lime flavored unless you garnish with lime.
Pros: Easy and fun spin on cheesecake.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Yes.
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Lime and White Chocolate Cheesecake Bars have a buttery, crunchy crust with a thick, luscious, creamy filling.
Did you guys see Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live recently? Or on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon all last week? Who would have thought that this kid would end up being such a talented musician, actor, and comedian? I’m pretty sure I had a picture of JT posted on the back of my bedroom door. There also may have been a talent school performance to an Nsync song… though it might have been Britney Spears too. Who knows! Unfortunately, my other tween crush Jonathon Taylor Thomas doesn’t seem to be doing much in the entertainment world today.
Who were your tween and teen crushes? Did you tape up posters of anyone on your bedroom walls?
Feel free to whip up a batch of these cheesecake bars while blasting “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” “Bye Bye Bye,” or “Pop.” Just make sure you’re home alone so no one can hear your singing or see your dancing…
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Lime and White Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 5 ounces vanilla wafer cookies
- 1/2 cup roasted and salted macadamia nuts
- 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
- 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- Zest of 2 limes
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces good-quality white chocolate, melted
Instructions
For the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the wafer cookies, macadamia nuts, and brown sugar until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is moistened. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake until slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the filling:
- Place the cream cheese in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add the sugar, eggs, lime zest, lime juice, flour, and salt and pulse until combined. Add the melted white chocolate and pulse until combined.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cooled crust. Bake at 350°F until the cheesecake is set but still slightly jiggly in the center, about 40 to 50 minutes. Do not overbake.
- Place the cheesecake on a cooling rack to cool completely in pan. Cover and chill until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. Using the overhang, transfer cheesecake to a cutting board to cut into squares before serving.
Oh, this is yummy! The cheesecake is a little heavy, but these are for “bars.” I also used graham cracker instead of vanilla wafers and wondered if the 5oz might have been too much. Or maybe more butter in the crust. And/or, a larger pan: my 8″ dish (pyrex) is only 7″ across the bottom. Learning, not complaining. The macadamias in the crust are a nice touch; they feel a little like coconut. I would definitely make this again! Thanks!
David Cassidy, Peter Tork of the Monkees and Bobby Sherman. Thanks for posting, I love lime and white chocolate together.
Your cheesecake bars look wonderful.
I love the combo of white chocolate and lime- these bars look delicious! And I definitely share your crush for JTT- I can remember countless rewatches of I’ll be Home for Christmas and Home Improvement. I wonder where he is now…
JT did a concert here on Austin on Sat night to close out the SXSW festival. But you had to win tix in an email lottery type thing. I didn’t win…boo!! But one of my blogging buds here in Austin did! She was so lucky!
Ohhmaagaawd, these look amazing!! I love cheesecakes, you should see my Pinterest board.. And when I don’t pick cheesecakes, citrusy things are next on my list. These little bars would be a perfect compromise!
Oh gosh. I was a freshman in college when Pop came out. I totally feel old now! By the way, my favorite was Lance too, but my gaydar was great! All of my prom dates and guy friends up through college were exactly what I wanted from guys back then: fabulous dancers and dishers of gossip. 🙂
Wanna talk about “before your time?” How about David Cassidy from Partridge Family?
Bye Bye Bye was my jam! Now it’s gonna be stuck in my head all day LOL
OMG jonathon taylor thomas.miss him.
I need to go online and watch that SNL! Sounds to good to miss. These bars look great!
i’m surprised you had a crush on jtt–i’m nearly 10 years older than you and i loved him too! incidentally, i read that he was going to be on tim allen’s new show. i don’t watch the show or know anything about it, but i’m inclined to watch simply because i’m SO curious to see how he looks now. 🙂
great bars!
You’re right – Home Improvement was a little before my time. I’m pretty sure the show started when I was still in diapers. However, the reruns were always on TV and my parents watched it so I was consequently introduced to JTT 🙂