No Bake Cheesecake Bars

No Bake Cheesecake Squares are a satisfyingly simple alternative to more traditional cheesecake recipes.

Do you love cheesecake?

But do you avoid making cheesecake because of the time involved and expense of ingredients?

I love cheesecake, making cheesecake, and eating cheesecake, but sometimes I don't feel like going to the trouble of shopping for pounds of cream cheese, preheating the oven and dealing with baking the cheesecake in a water bath.

Call me lazy! And living in Phoenix, sometimes it is just too hot to think about turning the oven on and heating up the kitchen.

This no bake recipe for creamy Cheesecake Bars is a perfect alternative for those times when you don't have the time or energy to make a more traditional baked cheesecake.

These cheesecake bars are creamy, rich and delicious. Perfect for an easy dinner party dessert, take along treat, or holiday dinner, and is surprisingly easy to make.

With just one 8-ounce package of cream cheese and 1 cup of sour cream, these no bake cookie bars won't totally bust the bank or the diet!

The secret to their delicious creamy texture is unflavored gelatin—the same thing that makes panna cotta so irresistible.

No Bake Cheesecake Bars Recipe

1 1/4 cups crisp sugar cookie crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil that extends beyond the sides of the pan. Lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
In a medium bowl combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter until well blended.
Pour the crumbs into the prepared pan and press firmly into the bottom of the pan.
Freeze until ready to use.
Pour the milk into a small saucepan and sprinkle with the gelatin without stirring. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to soften the gelatin.
Heat the saucepan of milk and gelatin over medium heat, stirring and whisking until the milk is very hot but not boiling and the gelatin is completely dissolved.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside.
In a large bowl beat the remaining ingredients (cream cheese through vanilla) with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy.
Gradually add the milk/gelatin mixture, beating on low speed until well blended. Occasionally scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure the mixture is completely incorporated.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly over the crust.
Refrigerate your no bake cheesecake bars until firm.
Use the foil liner to remove the block of uncut bars from the pan to a cutting board.
Cut into desired size bars.
Store, loosely covered, in the refrigerator.

This no bake recipe makes one 8-inch square pan of Cheesecake Bars.

No Bake Cheesecake Bars Recipe Variation:

For No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Bars:

Substitute chocolate wafer crumbs for the sugar cookie crumbs
Decrease the milk to 1/4 cup
Decrease the vanilla to 1 teaspoon
Add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder to the cream cheese mixture

For No Bake Toffee Cheesecake Bars:

Substitute 1/2 cup dark brown sugar for the confectioner's sugar and heat with the milk/gelatin mixture in step 6
Add 3 chopped chocolate covered toffee bars into the cream cheese mixture in step 8
Sprinkle 1 chooped chocolate covered toffee bar over the cream cheese mixture after spreading into the pan

Recipe Source: These deliciously easy no bake cheesecake bar recipes are from the book, No Bake Cookies, by Camilla V. Saulsbury.