Seriously, when you love something, you don’t set it free. You keep it in your life and obsess over it. I’ve never been able to turn down cheesecake, especially if it’s packed with milk chocolate chips. I’ve never been able to turn down a chocolate chip cookie, unless something is majorly wrong in my life.
Putting them together just equals total happiness. If anyone wants to be unhappy, stop reading.
I’m not sure what’s going on with this year, but my stress level has been through the roof lately. I’ve informed everyone at work to schedule my nervous breakdown for November. If I warn them in advance, will it be okay to take to my bed and stare at the walls?
On a daily basis, I find myself juggling way too much. It’s inevitable that some balls will drop, and then I feel guilty. After all, aren’t women supposed to somehow handle it all without freaking out?
I’m not saying that men have less to handle, necessarily. But when Kenny has a huge to-do list, he gives himself a few weeks to get to what needs to be done, and the piling amount of work doesn’t seem to faze him that much. But with me, I need to get through my lists daily, or it all comes crumbling down.
This week, I have the usual five classes to teach every day and the resultant large stack of essays to grade. On top of that, I’m finishing up college recommendations for the students I teach who are doing what’s known as “early action,” which means they get into college before everyone else. I admire their drive. It just makes for a lot of letter-writing on my part.
I’m also doing a project proposal for making the literary magazine I run at work have its own app. I don’t know how to make an app, but I’m hoping someone in the building can help me. And I’m taking a leadership course this fall that comes with 18 hours of homework.
Oh, and then I run this blog, which I love, not to mention how much I love eating the desserts I show you all. So I’ll do my best to hold off on that breakdown if you let me eat all these chocolate chip cookie cheesecake bars myself. Are we agreed?
The base of these bars is a standard chocolate chip cookie dough which gets mostly baked before the cheesecake layer is added to the top. When I make cheesecake for bars, I keep the batter very low in sugar. The fact that the cheesecake is rich and full of chocolate chips coupled with the cookie base means that you don’t need the extra sweetness.
There’s really no way that these won’t become a household favorite. Even though I admit that my stress level is way out of whack lately, sharing desserts like this gives me unending pleasure. Whether you just gaze at the pics or decide to make some yourself, enjoy whatever stolen moments the day can bring. Calm breathing, everyone!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, leaving enough to hang over the sides. Coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and then mix in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips.
- Spread the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until mostly baked. The center can still be a little jiggly.
- While the bottom layer is baking, make the cheesecake batter. In a medium bowl, mix the softened cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and stir again until completely incorporated. Mix in the milk chocolate chips.
- Pour the cheesecake batter onto the chocolate chip cookie layer. Spread the batter out evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden at the edges and set. Cool completely.
- Refrigerate overnight and cut into squares.
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