Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Like your favorite summer drink turned into cheesecake. Tangy, tart, sweet, and fresh.
Texture: The crust is thick, buttery, and crunchy to perfectly balance the smooth, creamy, and rich cheesecake.
Ease: Easier than a traditional cheesecake. The hardest part is waiting for the bars to chill in the fridge!
Appearance: How pretty are those vibrant raspberry swirls??
Pros: Fun, fresh, and flavorful dessert. I even used low-fat cream cheese to make this recipe a *little* more summer swimsuit friendly.
Cons: None, really. If you aren’t a fan of a little bit of tartness, you may want to add an extra few tablespoons of sugar.
Would I make this again? Sure!
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Do you guys ever get caught up in the “panic loop?” Where you know you need to do something like write a report for work, an essay for school, organize your finances, make an uncomfortable phone call, or some other less-than-stellar task.
Where you avoid said task by suddenly and obsessively looking at your app messages, looking at everyone’s perfect lives on Instagram, reading silly political rants on Facebook, checking your Pinterest feed, staring at your overflowing email inbox, checking Google Analytics (if you’re a blogger), then you just start all over again. Suddenly 30 minutes, even an hour has passed and you’ve accomplished nothing. It’s the worst!!
The internet is simultaneously such an awesome tool of production AND such a time-waster. How do you stay focused at the computer?
Hopefully this spring/summer we can all get away from the computer for a little bit to enjoy the warm weather and summer traditions. These Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars are the ultimate spring or summer dessert recipe. They’re as bright as they are flavorful with that balance of sweetness and tartness of your favorite summer drink. I think you’ll enjoy this recipe!
This cheesecake bar recipe is certainly a crowd pleaser with their beautiful bright raspberry colored swirls!
More cheesecake bar recipe
- Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars
- Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars
- Brownie Bottom Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 9 whole (138 grams) graham crackers
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
For the raspberry swirl:
- 6 ounces (170 grams) raspberries, fresh or thawed frozen
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
For the cheesecake:
- 16 ounces (454 grams) full-fat cream cheese, completely softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, from about 2 large lemons
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8 by 8-inch light-colored metal baking pan with foil or parchment, leaving an overhang.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the graham crackers until finely ground. You should have about 1 cup crumbs.
- Add the melted butter and pulse until moistened. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown and fragrant. Let cool.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
Make the raspberry puree:
- In a food processor or blender, puree the raspberries until smooth. Use a spatula to press through a fine mesh strainer, discarding any seeds and pulp that remain. Scrape the underside of the strainer to get the maximum amount of puree. Stir in the sugar. Puree will have a thin consistency. Set aside.
Make the cheesecake:
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to beat the cream cheese until completely smooth and creamy, for at least 1 minute. Add in the sugar and beat until totally combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. On medium-low speed, beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice, eggs, and salt until just combined.
- Spread the mixture over the crust. Tap the cheesecake against the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
- Dollop the batter with spoonfuls of the raspberry puree. Use a knife or skewer to make swirls.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until just set at the edges but ever so slightly jiggly in the middle, before turning off the oven and cracking open the oven door for 10 minutes. Remove from oven to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. The cheesecake can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- Before serving, use the foil or parchment to remove the cheesecake from the pan and onto a work surface. Cut into 15 squares. Serve chilled.
Loved the recipe . Simple to make and the entire family loved it .
This was my first cheesecake to make, and it was much easier than I anticipated! My husband loves cheesecake and lemon, so I planned to make this for Father’s Day. He really enjoyed it and is ready for me to make another already! Lol.
My only issue was with the raspberries. I had a hard time pureeing them and could not properly separate the seeds. In the end, I used strawberry jelly that I had on hand instead.
Next time I am going to try this with blueberries. And my husband would like more lemon flavor. The lemon is noticeable, but faint. I will be doubling the lemon juice and adding zest on top.
I love cheescake, but it is a rich dessert! The raspberry and lemon flavors really brightened this up for summer! I cut it up into bit size pieces to take to a small group gathering. It didn’t last long! I even forgot to add the sugar to the raspberries (these things happen when a crying toddler is hanging on to your legs), and it still turned out wonderfully 🙂
Sadly this didn’t turn out as I expected. 🙁 the cheesecake part was too thick and dense and it didn’t taste at all lemony. Not sure what I did wrong.
Really good recipe!!! It´s so yummy.
Really great taste! I didn’t bother straining the seeds from the raspberries and I love the crunchy feel.
Not the best cheesecake I’ve made but it was very aesthetic, very simple to make, and others enjoyed it!
There use to be the most delicious pastry shop in where I live sadly it closed but they made blueberry and raspberry cheesecake bars that
my husband was in love with needless to say he was devastated when it closed.
When I saw this recipe I thought oh my I wonder if this recipe will be as wonderful as the pastry shop. Let me tell you they are just as good if not BETTER My husband loves them. Everyone I’ve shared these with rave about them. Thank you Tessa!
P.S. I’ve made them 3 times already!
Made his first or a few a celebration work. All my coworkers loved it!
Fantastic recipe. Brought it for a bunch of coworkers – all female – and they couldn’t a stop raving about them.
Fantastic recipe! So easy and tastes amazing! I took them to work and I think they were gone in less than 5 minutes. I’ll definitely be making them again!!
I love how these bars look. I loved how they turned out but just find the raspberry flavor is lacking. Might just need to add more raspberries the next time. They sliced beautifully and were very creamy. Would be great on any pastry tray.