Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars

Seriously indulgent and creamy, these chocolate peanut butter cheesecake bars are like eating a peanut butter cup in cheesecake form. Quicker to bake and chill than a full cheesecake, these layered bars are the perfect choice when you need a crowd-pleasing dessert that’s also portable, easy to serve, and handheld.

I’m an author, food photographer, baker, and blogger. And as of today, I can add Cheesecake Ambassador to my list of professional titles too. 😉 This chocolate peanut butter cheesecake bars recipe is sponsored by PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, whose products I’ve long admired and trusted in my baking. I’m thrilled to show off their quality cream cheese today and, as always, all opinions are 100% my own. (You know I never steer you wrong!)

Today I’m breaking down the barrier to making real cheesecake, showing you that it’s not only delicious, but approachable for all home bakers. A little more special than a batch of cookies and not nearly as overwhelming as a tall layer cake, cheesecake bars are the perfect solution when you need a crowd-pleasing dessert without complicated ingredients.

After testing the recipe, I made them for girls night the other week. I chose this recipe because they’re really easy to prep ahead of time and are extra convenient for serving. No fork needed! Each person literally said these are the best dessert they’ve ever had.

(And they’ve tasted many of my creations! Total win!)

These Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars Are:

• Indulgently rich and creamy
• Like a peanut butter cup in cheesecake form
• Sitting on a buttery chocolate cookie crust
• Topped with chocolate ganache (that sets!)
• Quicker to bake & chill than a full cheesecake
• Handheld individual servings (but you need that napkin!)
• Devoured whenever I make them, whether that’s for a party, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, baby shower, Halloween (top with crushed Reese’s Pieces!), etc.

Plus, there’s no need for a water bath. Let me show you how to make them.

One reader, Sheila, commented: “I wish I could give this more stars. It’s heavenly. I’ve made them twice. The first time I got nothing but good reviews. Someone even asked for the recipe. I never got a taste, so I didn’t comment. But with this second batch, I finally got to have one. Man! They are so good. ★★★★★“

How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars:

1. Make the crust: You only need 2 ingredients for the crust: Oreo cookies and butter. Grind the cookies into a crumb (the cookie AND the filling), then mix with melted butter. Since this recipe fits a 9×13-inch pan, I slightly scaled up my regular Oreo cookie crust. Same fantastic crust we use for this peanut butter Butterfinger cheesecake, too.
2. Pre-bake the crust: Press the crust mixture into a lined 9×13-inch baking pan. Simply line with a piece of parchment paper. If you leave enough overhang on the sides, you can lift the chilled cheesecake bars out of the pan as a whole, which makes cutting squares REALLY easy. Pre-bake crust for 10 minutes.
3. Make the peanut butter cheesecake filling: You need brick-style cream cheese, sugar, sour cream (for a little extra creaminess), peanut butter, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs. Good rule of thumb for any and all cheesecake baking: always add the eggs last. You can mix the other ingredients as much as you want, but as soon as you add the eggs, mix just until they’re combined. Over-mixing eggs results in overly dense cheesecake.
4. Bake: Spread the filling over the warm crust. Bake until only slightly jiggly in the center. Each of my test batches took 35–37 minutes.
5. Cool bars at room temperature.
6. Chill: After cooling at room temperature, place the pan in the refrigerator for at least 3–4 hours until sufficiently chilled. Cold cheesecake bars not only taste better, but they cut much easier too.
7. Make the ganache topping: We usually make chocolate ganache with chocolate and cream, right? Well, we want a sturdier ganache that will set, so use a fat that’s solid at room temperature: BUTTER! Melt the butter and chocolate together. You can use baking chocolate or chocolate chips. I usually use chocolate chips. This is exactly how I top my mint chocolate brownies, too!
8. Let the topping set: Pour and spread the ganache over the chilled pan of cheesecake bars. Let it set completely in the refrigerator, at least 45–60 minutes.
9. Cut into squares: Lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper overhang on the sides. For neat slices, wipe your sharp knife clean between each cut.

Different Size Pans

This recipe yields a 9×13-inch pan of cheesecake bars. If this is too big, you can easily halve the recipe for an 8-inch square baking pan. Want to bake a full cheesecake from this recipe? You definitely can. See my recipe notes below. I also give instructions for turning these into individual mini cheesecakes.

I’d obviously never deprive you of chocolate, peanut butter, and cheesecake. The possibilities are endless!!!

3 Success Tips for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars

1. Use Bricks of Cream Cheese: Cheesecake won’t set up properly if you’re not careful about the type of cream cheese you use. Make sure you use 8-ounce bricks of full-fat cream cheese. Do not use low-fat cream cheese or cream cheese spread that’s sold in a tub. (Save that for bagels!)
2. Use Creamy Peanut Butter: Unless otherwise noted, it’s best to use thick and creamy peanut butter in baking recipes, including cheesecake. Avoid natural style or oily peanut butters, which will change the texture of the baked cheesecake. Chunky peanut butter is usually a little drier and thicker, so I recommend avoiding that too.
3. Chill the Cheesecake Bars: Like a full cheesecake, these bars must cool down and chill in the refrigerator before slicing. Unlike regular cheesecake, though, you don’t need to cool them in the cooling oven. And since they’re thinner, they take about half the time to cool down as a full cheesecake. That’s always a nice bonus, especially if you’re serving these as dessert when you’re entertaining!

More Cheesecake Recipes

If you need more recipe inspiration, here are plenty of cheesecake recipes to try next:

• White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
• No Bake Cheesecake
• Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
• Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes
• Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake (can make this as cheesecake bars, too!)
• Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars or Lemon Cheesecake
• Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Bars

And if you can’t get enough of the peanut butter + chocolate combination, try this peanut butter ice cream pie or unbelievable peanut butter pie next.

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