White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

Exceptionally quicker and easier than a full cheesecake, these white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars are luxuriously creamy, perfectly sweet, and swirled with layers of homemade fresh raspberry sauce. Baked in a 9-inch square pan, they sit on a buttery sweet Oreo cookie crust and are filled with real white chocolate.

This recipe started as a full cheesecake that went horribly wrong. I’m chalking it up to poor decisions in the recipe creation process, but it (1) was too thick (2) overflowed and (3) burned around the edges (from the sugar in the white chocolate I believe?). It tasted fine, but I knew I could do better especially since this classic cheesecake recipe is top-notch.

I didn’t really have an occasion for a full cheesecake coming up, nor did I want to waste another 2 lbs of cream cheese and raspberries, so I tossed the whole idea and opted for white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars instead. I always appreciate cheesecake I can eat with my hands, plus these are easier to serve to a crowd.

Why You’ll Love These White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars:

• Easier than a full cheesecake
• No messing with a water bath
• Quicker to bake & chill than a full cheesecake
• Portable
• Hand-held individual servings
• Exceptionally creamy
• Made with real white chocolate & raspberries
• Buttery Oreo cookie crust

Behind the Recipe

The starting point for my white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars was my lemon blueberry cheesecake bars. To this base, you’ll add real melted white chocolate, an extra egg to help stabilize that white chocolate, and a Tablespoon of flour to help soak up the extra liquid. Pour this on an Oreo cookie crust and swirl with layers of raspberry sauce.

3 Parts to This Recipe:

1. Raspberry Swirl
2. Oreo Cookie Crust
3. White Chocolate Cheesecake Filling

---

Raspberry Swirl

The raspberry swirl is not quite as thick as our raspberry cake filling. It’s more similar in consistency to our raspberry sauce recipe. I recommend preparing it first. Made from real raspberries, this homemade sauce must cool down completely before swirling into the white chocolate cheesecake filling. I usually stick it in the refrigerator for 1 hour to speed up the cooling process. Or you can make the raspberry sauce the night before.

1. Mix some water and cornstarch together.
2. Cook fresh or frozen raspberries, sugar, and more water together on the stovetop.
3. Add cornstarch mixture.
4. Once slightly thickened, remove from heat.
5. Press raspberries through a fine mesh strainer to rid the seeds. Discard the seeds.
6. Let the seedless sauce cool completely before using.

Oreo Cookie Crust

This is my standard Oreo cookie crust recipe that I use for many other desserts, too. You need 22 Oreo cookies and 5 Tablespoons of melted butter. I’ve gotten away with 18 Oreos and 4 Tablespoons of butter (as seen in my salted caramel chocolate chip cheesecakes), but I like this slightly thicker crust for bars.

1. Using a food processor or blender, pulse the Oreos (the whole Oreo—cookie AND filling) into crumbs.
2. Mix with melted butter.
3. Press into a lined 9-inch square baking pan.
4. Pre-bake for 8 minutes as you prepare the filling.

Or you could use a Biscoff pie crust instead if you’d like.

White Chocolate Cheesecake Filling

Let’s make the cheesecake filling, then bring each component of this recipe together before baking.

1. Chop and melt pure white chocolate. Don’t use white chocolate chips/morsels. Instead, pick up two 4-ounce white chocolate baking bars from the baking aisle; I prefer Ghirardelli or Baker’s brands sold right next to the chocolate chips. You need 6 ounces for this recipe. Cool the white chocolate as you make the batter.
2. As the white chocolate cools, beat 16 ounces of brick-style cream cheese with some sugar.
3. Add flour, lemon juice to brighten up the otherwise flat flavor (don’t worry, it won’t taste like lemon cheesecake), vanilla extract, and salt.
4. Beat in 2 eggs.
5. Add melted/cooled white chocolate.

Bring It All Together

1. Pour 1/2 of the cheesecake filling onto warm pre-baked Oreo cookie crust.
2. Drizzle with 1/2 of the cooled raspberry sauce.
3. Pour remaining 1/2 of the cheesecake filling on top.
4. Drizzle with remaining raspberry sauce.
5. Swirl everything together with a toothpick.
6. Bake! No water bath required. The bars take about 32–36 minutes in the oven. They’ll puff up as they bake, then settle back down as they cool.

After cooling the bars at room temperature, place them in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours until sufficiently chilled. Cold cheesecake bars not only taste better, but they cut much easier too. For neat slices, wipe your sharp knife clean between each cut.

This recipe yields 16 perfect squares. For a 9×13-inch pan of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars, see my recipe note below.

3 Success Tips for White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

1. Read Through the Recipe: Included in my 10 Best Baking Tips is this crucial piece of baking advice: read the recipe before you begin. Have everything in place so you don’t miss an important ingredient or step.
2. Take Your Time: Work on each component one at a time. This isn’t a recipe you can rush because the raspberry sauce and white chocolate must cool down before using.
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!

PS: You can turn these into individual mini cheesecakes. See my recipe note below.

PPS: If you love these flavors together, try my raspberry cheesecake brownies next.

Print

More Cheesecake

• No-Bake Cheesecake Jars
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
• Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
• No-Bake Cheesecake
• Small Batch Cheesecake (so fun—bake in a loaf pan)