Raspberry Cheesecake Bars combine a buttery crust, a tangy raspberry layer, and a smooth cream cheese filling to create a heavenly dessert that will leave you craving for more.
Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish well, and set aside.
To make the crust, in a medium mixing bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar, and beat well until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. You can use a stand mixer or a hand mixer for this; both work great.
Add the flour, oats, and salt. Mix until well combined.
Place the crust in the bottom of the prepared baking dish, and press it evenly into the bottom of the pan.
Bake the crust for 20 minutes, or until light brown.
Mix the raspberry jam and the lemon juice together in a small bowl.
When the crust comes out of the oven, spread the jam mixture carefully over the hot crust.
To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and flour in a large bowl, and beat on low speed until well blended.
Add the eggs, and beat for another minute.
Beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Spread the cream cheese mixture over the raspberry layer.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until set in the center.
Remove the pan, and let it cool to room temperature before cutting and serving.
You can also refrigerate the pan and serve cold (I prefer them cold). It’ll take about 4 hours in the fridge for them to get cold.
Notes
You can use quick-cooking/instant oats, or you can use old fashioned oats. Old fashioned will be chewier, and quick cooking will make a more uniform crust. I like the quick cooking oats best for this recipe, but both work great.
The “center is set” for this recipe means that it should not be sloshy or even overly giggly; it’ll be the same consistency as the outer edge of the bars. You can make this a raspberry lemon cheesecake by adding the juice and zest of one lemon to the filling when you add the eggs.
Raspberry preserves and raspberry jam are the same in my opinion, so use what you can find. Both seedless and seeded jams are also fine for this recipe; you can use what you have or prefer.
You can sub blackberry jam for the raspberry jam if you like, too.
In a pinch, if you don’t have the lemon juice to add to the jam, you can add water instead to make it easier to spread. The lemon juice adds a nice brightness to the jam, but you can get away without it.
You can line the baking pan with foil or parchment paper, letting the paper/foil overhang the two ends of the pan by at least 2 inches. Then give the parchment paper/foil a spray of cooking spray, and proceed with the recipe. Once the bars are cool, you can lift the bars out of the pan and cut to serve. This is a great tip if you are taking them to a party and would like to serve them outside of the pan.