Let’s kick start the new year with this easy Kit Kat Cheesecake Bar. It’s a full fat cheesecake bar. No skinny or dieting resolutions here. Although you can easily make this “skinny” with low-fat cream cheese. Either way you go, start from bottom with a graham cracker crust then stack whole Kit Kat bars on top and layer it with a rich chocolate cheesecake. To finsh things off, pour a chocolate layer all over and then garnish or decorate to your liking.
Kit Kat Cheesecake Bars
Okay, truth be told, the chocolate layer on top wasn’t part of the original plan. The original plan was to have a white chocolate swirl, but that didn’t work out so well. My hand did too much swirling and it ended up looking like a “swirly” mess, so I covered that up with what you see.
I considered starting over but then realized if I did—I’d have two pans of cheesecake bars to eat, which usually isn’t a problem unless I’m lazy. As evident, I was lazy and improvised. Those little cream colored spots under the chocolate layer are peeks of the failed swirl.
Ah, well. Life can get like that right? Improvise where you can, when you can. At least that’s what I’m trying to convince myself when it comes to dessert, so I won’t waste so much food and time.
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope it was great holiday season for you. Now let’s get back to our cozy corner filled with butter, sugar and random thoughts.
Aftermath (via iPhone)
Easy Kit Kat Cheesecake Bars
Yield: Makes one 8x8 pan
Ingredients:
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 8 tablespoons of butter
Chocolate cheese cake layer
- 12 oz cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons Hershey’s Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- ¾ cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 6 Kit Kat packages
Chocolate layer
- 10oz. chocolate
- 8 tablespoons butter
White chocolate striping
- 4 oz white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Directions:
Preparation
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line pan with a sling foil.
To make crust
Place graham cracker crust and sugar in a bowl and toss to combine. Add in melted butter and mix to combine. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool while making cheesecake portion.
To make chocolate cheesecake
Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until fully combined and smooth; set aside. Place Kit Kat bars on top of crust. Pour cheesecake mixture over Kit Kat bars and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
To make chocolate layer
- Place chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl over (not on) simmering water, gently stir until chocolate is melted and butter is fully combined. Pour chocolate over baked cheesecake.
- Place white chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. Boil heavy cream. Pour boiled heavy cream over chocolate and let sit. Do not stir for 3-4 minutes. Then using a sturdy spatula gently stir and fold chocolate, continuing until chocolate is completely melted. Chocolate may appear lumpy for the first few stirs, but will melt into smoothness. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a number 2 round tip or a place mixture in a Ziploc bag and cut a small hole in one corner.
- Pipe white chocolate horizontally across from top to bottom. Use a toothpick and starting at the top drag the toothpick vertically through horizontal lines. Starting from the bottom drag the toothpick to the top. Continue to alternate starting points with toothpick.
A few notes:
- For nice clean edges while cutting, run hot water over the knife’s blade and wipe away the moisture before cutting. Along with that, wipe the blade down between cuts.
- This can be prepared 3 days in advance and stored tightly covered in the refrigerator.
I found this on Pinterest , took one look and knew it was your recipe! I can hardly wait to try it.
That chocolate layer on top definitely takes this to the next level. And god forbid you had even more of these amazing bars to eat. Or you could send some to me. Just sayin’
These look totally amazing
Yeah they look nice in the photos.
Except they got cemented to the pan. I had to break them out of there using a knife as if it was a pick axe. Not cool.
Debbie replied: — June 18th, 2013 @ 4:35 pm
line your baking dish with foil, once baked and cooled you take the cheesecake bars out and cut. As stated in the recipe.
OMG! *pinned* *drool*
Making these for hubsters bday and can’t find dark cocoa powder anywhere! If is use only regular cocoa powder will they still be as divine?
Debbie replied: — June 18th, 2013 @ 4:31 pm
Yes they will taste great. I couldn’t find it either, but made them anyway. Fantastic.
I’m sorry,but these were not a hit. I made the recipe as directed . The crust was way too thick for an 8×8 pan. I use this much in a 13×9 pan. The cheesecake layer was too much dark cocoa powder. If I made it again I would use a regular cheesecake layer,not chocolate. I always say that there is no such thing as too much chocolate,but in this recipe it is very overpowering. Would try again with adjustments. 😉
Definitely not a hit. The graham cracker crust was way too thick and you couldnt taste the kit kats. It really wasn’t anything special. I won’t make this again.
I tried these because they just look fabulous! I replaced your crust by a shortbread crust and used a NY Cheesecake recipe to which I just added some cocoa to get the matching brown colour… my topping was the other way round, I used vanilla frosting and created the pattern with melted dark chocolate (it didn’t look as neat as yours though)
I’m just defending that recipe by saying that they turned out pretty good, we ate them all! (:
They look delicious – just wondering with the kit kats, do you use the 2 or 4 finger size bars?
Oh my gosh! These look absolutely wonderful!!!