Samoas are easily my favorite Girl Scout cookie because of all the great contrasting flavors and textures they have. It is a shortbread-type cookie topped with caramel and toasted coconut then dipped in chocolate. I like them so much that I have a homemade version that lets me make them any time I want - no Girl Scouts necessary - as well as a slightly easier bar cookie variation that still captures those flavors. This time, I have yet another variation on the theme with some Samoas Cheesecake Bars. They’re not quite as cookie-like as my other homemade Girl Scout Cookie recipes, but I’m pretty sure that those girls could easily sell just as many of these bars!

These cheesecake bars are fairly easy to make and start off with a shortbread base topped with a layer of vanilla cheesecake, a combination I’ve used before in Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Bars. The bars are topped with a mixture of caramel and toasted coconut, then drizzled with chocolate. The result is a delicious bar with a buttery crust, creamy cheesecake, gooey caramel, crisp coconut and rich chocolate.

The only trick to making these bars is that you need to make the caramel sauce by hand. It needs to remain soft when refrigerated because the cheesecake bars need to be stored in the refrigerator. The bars are a bit less satisfying to eat when the caramel hardens up and you can’t slice into them! This caramel is smooth and rich tasting, and remains soft enough to slice easily after it has been spread on the bars and chilled, though it is firm enough that it won’t run everywhere and make a mess. You could get away with using a thick, store-bought caramel sauce if you want to give a shortcut a try, though.

This recipe makes a big batch that is easy to share, but equally easy to enjoy yourself. They keep well in the refrigerator, so you can take your time eating through them. There are several stages to making this recipe, but most of the down time is just waiting for things to chill. Be a bit patient and the results will be well worth it!

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Eggnog is one of those foods that really conjures up thoughts of the holidays because it’s only available for a few weeks of the year (although you can make it at home anytime). There are also lots of eggnog-flavored treats out there, like cakes and cookies. Many don’t even use eggnog as an ingredient and just include vanilla and nutmeg in the recipes to capture a big of flavor that is reminiscent of eggnog. This is a huge disappointment when you want something that actually tastes like eggnog! It’s also unfortunate because eggnog can be a great ingredient to use when baking around the holidays. In many recipes (cakes, puddings, etc.) regular eggnog can be substituted for regular milk, adding a lot of holiday flavor to an otherwise unseasonal recipe.

Eggnog plays a big part in this Eggnog Ricotta Cheesecake, so you get a cheesecake that is a balanced mix of cream cheese and eggnog flavors. Ricotta cheese has such a mild flavor that it doesn’t come to the forefront, but it does have a big impact on the texture of the cheesecake. The cheesecake is light and very tender, not heavy or dense.

I used a shortbread crust for this cheesecake. Its plain, buttery flavor goes well with the cheesecake and it is very sturdy, so it slices and holds together very well. It is also very easy to throw together. The cheesecake batter is poured over the crust while it is still warm, so the whole cheesecake takes very little time to come together. I refrigerate this cheesecake before serving. It can be served warm or at room temperature, but you may want to bake it the night before and simply put it in the fridge for 8-12 hours before serving.
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Oreo cookies are a great addition to cheesecake, whether you use them in the crust or chop them up and mix them into the batter. The crisp, chocolaty cookies are a nice textural contrast to the creamy cream cheese base of the cake, and the creme filling of the cookie blends in smoothly and sweetly to the rest of the dessert. I like them in any kind of cheesecake, but when I saw the Halloween Oreos - with their bright orange centers - on the shelves, I knew that they would make a fabulous Halloween-themed cheesecake.

I lined the muffin tin with paper liners and then placed a whole Oreo cookie into each cup to act as the crust of these cheesecakes. Not only does it make for a good, solid base, but you don’t need to spend time fussing with getting graham cracker crumbs into the muffin cups or prebaking crusts and waiting for them to cool. I also chopped up some Oreo cookies and stirred them into the cake batter. The cheesecake itself is very easy and mixes up in one bowl. Just pour it on top of the cookie bases and you’re ready to bake! Once all your ingredients are at room temperature, you can actually have these in the oven in less than 10 minutes.

I took these to a little party recently and they were a huge hit with both adults and kids alike. It was really fun to see faces light up when they bit into the cheesecake and realized that you could see the whole Oreo cookie, complete with bright orange filling, sitting at the base of the cake. The cupcakes travel very well as the cheesecake is relatively firm. Also, since the orange filling isn’t orange flavored, these taste just like cookies n’ cream.

Don’t forget, regular Oreos (or similar brands) of cookies will work well in this recipe, too, and you can always opt for a non-Halloween colored version in the off season.

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I recently had an interesting discussion about how many types of cheesecake there are. My friend seemed to feel that there were an almost uncountable number of cheesecake flavors - cookie dough, mocha, raspberry, marble, etc. - that all these were types of cheesecake. I disagreed. While there are lots of different cheesecake recipes, a basic cheesecake with different types of add-ins does not make it a new type of cheesecake. Changing the base ingredients, like the cheese cheese, sour cream, milk and other primary elements, does. For me, different types of cheesecakes give you different textures and consistencies, not just different flavors.

This cheesecake, for instance, is a yogurt cheesecake. It uses some cream cheese, quite a bit of thick, Greek-style yogurt, and uses eggs to bind everything together (making it gluten free). Unlike some cheesecakes that use two or three times as much cream cheese, this one has a slightly lighter texture and tastes a bit less rich, although it is still creamy and delivers a wonderfully familiar cheesecake flavor. It’s definitely less filling than some of its counterparts, and I appreciate the fact that I can eat more than tiny slice in one sitting. You can use low fat or full fat greek yogurt. I’m not sure how nonfat will be, but it might be worth experimenting with!

It’s pretty important to have all your ingredients at room temperature when you’re going to make a cheesecake because cream cheese likes to firm up fast when it gets cold. Keeping everything at room temperature will help to ensure that you have a very smooth finished product. A lump or two won’t effect the flavor, but ideally you’d like the cake to be as smooth as possible. I’d definitely recommend making the cheesecake mixture in a food processor, although an electric mixer is the next best thing.

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Light and fluffy souffle-like cheesecakes are nice, but not everyone is going to be satisfied with that type of texture for a cheesecake. Others want their cheesecake to be rich, creamy and dense. In fact, this sort of texture is almost a signature of cheesecakes, since few other baked good can (or would want to) achieve it. This Mocha Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is a great example of this type of cheesecake. It is rich and filling to the point where you really only want to eat a small slice at a time, but it has a great flavor and is satisfyingly smooth and creamy to eat.

The flavor for this cake was, not surprisingly, inspired by one of my favorite drink combinations: coffee and chocolate. I started out with a chocolate crust, an easy one to make that doesn’t need to be cooled before the batter is poured on top. Cheesecakes don’t typically have a lot of liquid added to them, and when they do, it is often something that adds extra richness, like cream. I opted to use instant espresso powder to add a good shot of coffee flavor to the cheesecake. Instant coffee powder will work just as well, so use what you have on hand.

I used melted chocolate to get the chocolate into the cheesecake. I used semisweet chocolate (61% cacao), but you can go with a darker or milder chocolate as long as you choose a good-quality one. You can either use the microwave or a double boiler to melt your chocolate, but be sure to let it cool down before incorporating it into the batter. The melted chocolate doesn’t do too much to change the consistency of the batter (unlike a dry ingredient like cocoa powder that might thicken it up too much). The batter will be quite thick, perfect for suspending chocolate chips or chocolate chunks without letting them fall to the bottom of the cake.

The finished cake is absolutely gorgeous looking, and mine baked up to be both even and smooth. Thicker batters seem to hold together better during baking and not crack as much (although I don’t personally mind if the cake cracks), and there is no need to use a waterbath for this cake, either. The coffee flavor is mild, but comes through the chocolate flavor just enough to round out the dessert and give the flavor some dimension. I could only handle small slices, but you can bet that I went back for a few of them. (more…)

The first time I ever had cheesecake brownies, they were a variation on a box brownie mix that my mom baked. I had cheesecake brownies this way for years. Some of those box brownie mixes are very good (Ghiradelli is one of my favorites) and I always enjoyed it when I found a batch in the kitchen. Presentation-wise, it’s a beautiful dessert, but the thing that makes it good is how the creamy cheesecake really contrasts with the rich chocolate flavor and texture of brownies.

I may like versions of this dessert made with box brownie mix, but these blow them away. The brownie base is dark and rich, the cheesecake is light by comparison and the ratio between the two is spot-on.

The brownies don’t have a tremendous amount of chocolate in them - some melted chocolate and a small amount of cocoa powder - but deliver a lot of flavor. Chocolate makes the brownies taste richer than cocoa alone, while the cocoa powder deepens the flavor. I used dark (65% cacao) chocolate and, while you could use semisweet chocolate in a pinch, I think that darker chocolate (or even half dark and half unsweetened) will give you the best finished flavor. The brownies are very fudgy when served at room temperature, largely because there is no leavening in the brownie batter aside from eggs, and they have a great chewiness to them when refrigerated. I usually prefer things at room temperature, but this is one that I actually prefer chilled.

Since this batch of brownies bakes in a fairly small pan (8×8-inches), there is a generous ratio of cheesecake to brownie, which makes this a good choice for cheesecake fans. The cheesecake is not too dense and I found that the flavor of the cream cheese, combined with the hint of vanilla in the mix, made a great match to the brownie. I didn’t swirl my brownies too much and, as a result, most of my pieces were brownies on the bottom and cheesecake on top. If you want more of a mixture, you can be a bit more aggressive with the “swirling” of the two batters.

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