For the filling
The recipe calls for eight ounces of fruit filling. That’s the size of many jams. Most commercial pastry fillings are two pounds, that’s enough for four batches.
Of course, you can use more than eight ounces of filling if you like.
This recipe makes a large 9 x13-inch pan of cheesecake bars.
For the crust
You will also need a Baby Cake Mix, which is a cream cake mix, or an equal.
- 1/2 cube butter
- 1 egg
- 1 8-oz package of cream cheese
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1 pound of powdered sugar
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan with shortening.
- Melt the butter and whisk the egg. In a medium bowl, stir the cake mix, egg, and melted butter together. To form the crust, press the mixture into the bottom of the 9 x 13-inch pan.
- For the cream cheese filling: In the bowl of your stand-type mixer (with the paddle attachment), beat the cream cheese until it’s soft. Add the three eggs, vanilla, and powdered sugar and beat until well-combined. Scrape the filling into the crust and smooth it out.
- Cut a 1/4-inch corner off a squeeze bag of fruit filling (you may use other fillings). Squeeze eight strips of filling across (not lengthwise) over the cream cheese filling. Create a pattern by dragging the edge of a spatula across the lines of filling at 90 degrees and at 3/4 inch intervals. That will create woven look to your dessert. The topping will melt into the cream cheese in the oven.
- Bake for 30 to 33 minutes or until the top of the bars become a pretty golden brown. Chill the cake. After it is chilled, cut it into bars with a knife or pizza wheel.
Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
For these cheesecake bars, we used the basic recipe that is listed at the beginning of this article and choose to use the raspberry pastry filling and the Vanilla Baby Cakes mix. Follow the basic directions as written above.
Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars
For these cheesecake bars, we used the basic recipe that is listed at the beginning of this article and chose to use the lemon pastry filling and the blueberry pastry filling. We also used the Vanilla Baby Cakes mix. Follow the basic directions as written at the beginning of this article.
Black Forest Cheesecake Bars
For these cheesecake bars, we used the basic recipe that is listed at the beginning of this article and chose to use the cherry pastry filling and the Fudgy Baby Cake mix. Follow the basic directions as written at the beginning of this article.
Strawberry Cheesecake Bars
For these cheesecake bars, we used the basic recipe that is listed at the beginning of this article and chose to use the strawberry pastry filling and the Vanilla Baby Cakes mix. Follow the basic directions as written at the beginning of this article, but add some pink food coloring in the cheesecake portion of the recipe to give it a prettier hue.
Lemon Cheesecake Bars
For these cheesecake bars, we used the basic recipe that is listed at the beginning of this article and chose to use the lemon pastry filling. We also used the Vanilla Baby Cakes mix. Follow the basic directions as written at the beginning of this article.
Apple Cheesecake Bars
For these cheesecake bars, we used the basic recipe that is listed at the beginning of this article and chose to use the apple pastry filling. We also used the Vanilla Baby Cakes mix and then drizzled the finished bars in Caramel Designer Dessert Sauce. Follow the basic directions as written at the beginning of this article.