Strawberry cheesecake bars combine a graham cracker crust, strawberry cheesecakesnic filling, and an oat crumble in a layered treat that everyone will love.
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My husband isn’t a huge dessert fan. He’ll eat some ice cream here or there and sometimes even a snickerdoodle or two. But really he’d rather eat appetizers than dessert.
The one exception is cheesecake. He loves a good cheesecake. So I’m always trying to come up with new cheesecake recipes for him to try. I’ve done mini cheesecakes, sopapilla cheesecake, and even Oreo cheesecake.
And now the lastest is these strawberry cheesecake bars, and they may be my favorite cheesecake inspired recipe yet!
The combo of the crust, fresh strawberry sauce, cheesecake filling, and oat crumble is just so good together.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Incredible flavor – I mentioned it before but the fresh strawberry sauce in these is just incredible, especially once refrigerated. It’s such a bright and refreshing flavor, perfect for all year!
- Oat crumble topping – a lot of cheesecake bars have some sort of streusel topping, but the oat crumble topping on this one is a showstopper. It gives the cheesecake bars the perfect amount of crunch and texture!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Graham cracker crumbs – you can either used boxed graham cracker crumbs or use a food processor and make your own crumbs with full-size graham crackers.
- Butter – you’ll need to melt some of the butter to use in the crust and the rest should remain in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it for the crumble topping. You want it chilled and dice into tiny pieces.
- Strawberries – just like with this homemade strawberry lemonade, this recipe is best made with fresh strawberries!
- Cream cheese – make sure the cream cheese is softened. Take it out of the fridge 30-60 minutes before you’re ready to start making these. You don’t want to leave it out too long or it can go bad!
How to Make Strawberry Cheesecake Bars
Okay so these do take a few steps to make, but all of the steps are pretty quick and painless! So let’s get started!
1 – Make the Graham Cracker Crust
The first thing you need to do is preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. Don’t skip this step – the parchment paper will help you get the bars out of the pan once chilled.
Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl. Make a small well in the middle then pour the melted butter in the well and mix until evenly combined.
Transfer the crust mixture to the prepared baking pan and gently press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes to finish the crust.
2 – Make the Cheesecake Filling
While the crust is baking, beat together the cheesecake ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy and set aside.
Next, add the strawberries and lemon juice to a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until the strawberries are bursting and juice has started to form.
In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir it into the strawberry mixture and cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Once the mixture has thickened and resembles pie filling, remove from heat.
3 – Make the Crumble Toppings
Now make the oatmeal crumble by combining all of the ingredients in a large bowl and using a pastry cutter or your fingers to mix the ingredients together, squishing the cubes of butter to create a coarse crumble.
4 – Bake the Bars
Pour the cheesecake mixture over the baked crust and spread out evenly.
Top the cheesecake mixture with the strawberry sauce. Top the strawberries with the crumble topping.
Bake the cheesecake bars for 50 to 70 minutes, until the top of the crumble is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 to 60 minutes. Transfer to the refrigerator to cool for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, before slicing into squares.
Then enjoy chilled because they’re amazing. I mean look at all those incredible layers!
Expert Tips
Line your baking pan with parchment paper to make it really easy to remove the bars from the pan for slicing after they’ve chilled. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can spray the pan with cooking spray and serve them right from the baking dish.
Refrigerate the bars in an airtight container for up to four days. Or if you still have them in the pan, you can cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Bars can be left out for up to two hours at room temperature. After two hours, they should be put back in the refrigerator. Because of this, I recommend not bringing them out until you’re ready to actually serve them – they taste best chilled!
Recipe FAQs
Can I freeze cheesecake bars?
These strawberry cheesecake bars can be frozen for up to three months. Chill the bars in the refrigerator overnight to make sure they’re cooled completely. Wrap the bars up tightly in plastic wrap or put in a freezer safe airtight container for freezing. Remove from the freezer and allow to come to room temperature to thaw.
More Easy Strawberry Desserts
If you like these strawberry cheesecake bars, you’ll love these other yummy desserts!
- Strawberry poke cake – this super easy summer dessert combines white cake, strawberry simple syrup, and whipped cream all in one delicious cake!
- Strawberry soup – this sweet creamy strawberry soup is the perfect chilled dessert for any occasion!
- Best strawberry scones – these fresh strawberry scones take just a few minutes to make and are a great addition to a baby shower, brunch, or really any time you want something sweet!
- Strawberry danish recipe – puff pastries combined with a strawberry cheesecake filling make these danishes a huge hit for your next breakfast charcuterie board!
- Strawberry fluff salad – while technically a salad, this one tastes more like a dessert! Strawberries, cream, and lots of fruit make this one the perfect addition to any dessert table!
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Strawberry Cheesecake bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 2 TBS granulated sugar
- 4 TBS salted butter (melted)
Cheesecake
- 16 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberry Filling
- 3 cups chopped strawberries
- 2 TBS lemon juice
- ½ cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ TBS cornstarch
Oat Crumble
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 6 TBS unsalted butter (cold and finely diced)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can spray the bottom and sides of the pan well with non-stick spray.
- Combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl until well mixed. Make a small well in the center and add in the melted butter. Mix together until the butter is all mixed in.2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 2 TBS granulated sugar, 4 TBS salted butter
- Pour the graham cracker mixture into the prepared baking dish and press down lightly into the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes then remove and set aside.
- Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in another bowl to make your cheesecake filling while the crust is baking.16 ounces cream cheese, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Combine the strawberries, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Cook in the pan at medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until the strawberries let go of their juice.3 cups chopped strawberries, 2 TBS lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- While the strawberry mixture is cooking, combine the brown sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir it into the strawberry mixture and cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly over medium-high heat. Once the mixture has thickened and looks like the filling for a pie, remove from heat.1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1 1/2 TBS cornstarch
- Combine the oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cold butter cubes together in a bowl. Use a pastry cutter or your fingers to cut the butter into the other ingredients until it turns into a coarse crumble.1 cup old fashioned oats, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 6 TBS unsalted butter
- Make the cheesecake bars by pouring the cheesecake filling over the crust, topping that with the strawberry sauce, and finally evenly spreading the oat crumble over top of the strawberry sauce.
- Bake the cheesecake bars for 50 to 70 minutes depending on how your oven cooks. You want to cook it until the top is golden brown – don’t keep cooking after it’s golden brown or you’ll end up with burnt topping.
- Remove from the oven and let the bars cool still in the pan on a wire rack for 30 to 60 minutes to allow both the pan and the bars to cool down.
- Transfer to the refrigerator to cool for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, before removing from the pan using the parchment paper and slicing into squares.
- Serve chilled topped with fresh strawberries for garnish.
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