My husband isn’t a huge dessert fan. He’ll eat some ice cream here or there and sometimes even a snickerdoodle or too. 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!
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!
