Decadent and creamy with a shortbread crusty and sweet strawberry topping, these strawberry cheesecake bars are an easy way to enjoy cheesecake without the hassle of a water bath.
Crushed shortbread cookies form a sweet and buttery crust with a vanilla cream cheese and ricotta filling. Topped off with fresh strawberries with just a touch of sugar to highlight the natural sweetness, they're the best dessert.
This strawberry cheesecake bar recipe is great for beginner bakers who are intimidated by full cheesecakes that can take a while to make and require a water bath. This simple recipe you can do a little more quickly.
Leave off the strawberry topping for a plain cheesecake bar recipe, or use fresh strawberries instead! There are many ways to mix up this delightful recipe. And if you love this one, you'll have to check out my Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake and White Chocolate Cheesecake.
This recipe is adapted from Nicole Hampton's Sugar High book. I originally made her high altitude recipe for the fourth of July when visiting Flagstaff. I made a few tweaks, like using strawberries and blueberries for the topping and adding ricotta cheese, but knew I had to recreate it at home to be migraine diet friendly. Nicole's recipes are amazing for baking in high altitude locations!
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The Best Strawberry Cheesecake Bars
Why make cheesecake bars? They're a much faster and easier way to enjoy cheesecake! Instead of being worried about cracking tops and reducing temperatures half way, this recipe is incredibly straightforward.
Also with the cookie crust, there's no reason to pre-bake the crust! It lends a lot of sweetness already so there's not a lot of added sugar as well.
- Easy to prep - These strawberry cheesecake bars keep well in the fridge.
- Simple serving - Because this is a bar recipe, it's easier to cut and serve into beautiful pieces.
- Customizable - These are awesome plain, with fresh fruit on top, or you can reduce other fruits like blueberries the same way you would in this recipe.
- Perfect for holidays - My family uses strawberries and blueberries as a topping for the Fourth of July! But you could top this with apple pie filling for a more fall flavored recipe.
Tips for Picking Strawberries
Strawberries do not ripen after they are picked, so you want to make sure they're a deep red color without any pale white or green parts. They should have green caps and no soft, brown spots on the berry.
One quart of strawberries yields about 3.5-4 cups total. Simply wash them in cool water and pat dry with a towel to clean.
Ingredients
- Vanilla Cookies or Shortbread - Choose cookies or shortbread with simple ingredients - flour, butter, vanilla. Graham crackers can also be used if you're a traditionalist.
- Butter - I love to use a quality, European-style butter like Kerrygold unsalted.
- Cream cheese - Look for a brand that doesn't contain carrageenan.
- Ricotta - You want a creamy, smooth ricotta which is usually one made without added gums. Calabro, Liuzzi, and BelGiosio are all great brands. And you can use leftovers for Lazy Lasagna!
- Heavy cream - Find a brand that doesn't contain carrageenan like Organic Valley or Horizon, as well as some local store brands!
- Eggs - Large eggs will work. If eggs give you trouble, try soy-free eggs.
- Sugar - Plain white sugar is fine!
- Cornstarch and all purpose flour - Used as binding and thickening agents in the cheesecake and strawberry topping.
- Vanilla extract
How to Make
Step 1: Make the Shortbread Crust
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the cookies in a reusable or ziplock bag and crush them with a mallet or use a food processor to blend them. Lightly grease an 8 inch square baking pan. Stir together the crushed cookies and melted butter until evenly incorporated. Press the mixture into the bottom of the greased pan tightly, using a cup to push down to pack in.
Step 2: Make the Cheesecake Filling
In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar till well combined. Stir in the eggs, ricotta, and vanilla. Sift in the flour and salt and stir together. Add in the heavy cream and stir well. Pour the mixture over prepared crust. Bake until just golden and set, about 30-35 minutes.
Step 3: Make the Strawberry Topping
In a saucepan, stir together the strawberries, sugar, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened. About 5 minutes. Pour the mixture over the baked cheesecake bars while still warm, spreading to the edges to cover the whole bars. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before removing from the pan. Cut into squares and serve.
How to Soften Cream Cheese for Cheesecake
The best way to soften the cream cheese for cheesecake bars is to leave them at room temperature for about 1-2 hours. I'll often place it in a sunny area that's a little more warm to help it along.
You can also microwave in in 15 second intervals, just to take the chill off. Just be careful - you don't want the cheese to melt or scorch.
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Use room temperature cream cheese and ricotta - This will help them blend really well!
- Shortbread can be substituted - Vanilla cookies, Biscoff, or graham crackers can also be used instead for a different flavor crust. I just love the shortbread with strawberries.
- Don't cut the bars too early - Make sure they're fully chilled and set before cutting. This generally takes at least 3 hours. I can typically make these bars in the early afternoon and have them set in time for dessert after dinner.
- Don't open the oven while baking - If you don't intend to put strawberries over the top, this will help keep the cheesecake bars from cracking.
- Use other types of fruit - Cherries, blueberries, and blackberries would all make a great substitute or addition to strawberries.
- For gluten free - Use an all purpose gluten free flour and favorite gluten free cookie.
Storage Information
Refrigerator - Store these strawberry cheesecake bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freezer - Once cooled, bars can be frozen in a freezer-safe bag in a single layer for up to 3 months, for best flavor results. I recommend keeping them separate from the strawberries, if you can, but they just won't be as pretty if frozen together. Defrost the bars overnight in the fridge, or at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
To freeze strawberry cheesecake bars individually - Use parchment paper to separate the slices!
How to Serve
These make a fantastic dessert for summer BBQ's or parties, and I especially love them over the 4th of July, but really they can be great any time of year. Here are a few ideas:
- Fourth of July - Use half strawberries and half fresh blueberries, cook them the same way! Then you have a red, white and blue cheesecake bar. Keep them in the fridge till about 10-20 minutes before serving so they stay fresh and cool.
- Fall - Top these with cinnamon apple filling.
- Winter - Use dark frozen cherries for the topping or just drizzle the top of the bars with melted white chocolate.
You could also try a no bake cheesecake bar version, these little cheesecake bites, or these blueberry bars!
Recipe FAQ
I recommend one without carrageenan, but locust bean gum is ok. Philadelphia plain cream cheese in block form is great, but I've also found some wonderful local store brands like Publix Greenwise, Whole Foods, etc.
These cheesecake bars would be wonderful on their own, or topped with blueberries, a mix of blueberries and strawberries, blackberries, peaches, apples, or cherries. Frozen fruit can be used, you may just need to adjust the sugar content by taste. Sometimes frozen fruit isn't as sweet.
Walkers has really great shortbread and I recommend using their gluten free version for this crust. Then simply substitute the all purpose flour for 1:1 flour, or I believe even the cornstarch would work, but I haven't tried that!
Run a large and sharp chefs knife through the cheesecake bars in one cut. Wipe the knife clean in between slices.
Cheesecake Recipes
I love a good cheesecake recipes, and these strawberry cheesecake bars a little bit easier to make than some of these others. But they're all beautiful! And if you love these flavors, don't miss this Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie.
If you make this, tag me #thedizzycook or @thedizzycook on Facebook and Instagram. And if you love the recipe, please leave a review below! Follow along on my Pinterest for more great recipes.
Strawberry Cheesecake Bars
Equipment
- 1 8 inch square baking pan
- 1 sifter or mesh strainer
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1¼ cups crushed shortbread cookies or vanilla wafer cookies
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
Cheesecake
- 2 8 oz packages block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- ¼ cup smooth ricotta cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream.
Strawberry Topping
- 16 oz fresh strawberries, trimmed and sliced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. For the crust - lightly grease an 8 inch square baking pan with the inside of the butter package or a little bit of oil on a paper towel. Stir together the crushed cookies (can crush them in a bag with a mallet or food processor) and melted butter until evenly incorporated. Press the mixture into the bottom of the greased pan tightly, using a cup to push down to pack in.
- For the cream cheese filling - In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar till well combined. This can be done with an electric mixer or by hand with a wood spoon. Stir in the eggs, ricotta, and vanilla till well combined. Sift in the flour and salt and stir together with the cream cheese mixture. Add in the heavy cream and stir well. Pour the mixture over prepared crust. Bake until just golden and set, about 30-35 minutes.
- For the strawberry topping - In a saucepan, stir together the strawberries, sugar, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened. About 5 minutes. Pour the mixture over the baked cheesecake bars while still warm. Allow it to sit at room temperature so it's not super hot before placing into the fridge.
- Once cooled, cover the pan with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before removing from the pan. Cut into squares with a large chefs knife, wiping it clean in between cuts for pretty slices, and serve.
Notes
- Shortbread, graham crackers, Biscoff or vanilla cookies can all be used for the crust, I just highly recommend shortbread with the strawberries!
- For migraine-friendly, use a cream cheese without carrageenan like Philadelphia or Publix Greenwise.
- For low histamine, use blueberries or blackberries instead of strawberries.
- For gluten free, Walker's makes gluten free shortbread, and use all purpose gluten free flour.
- Fully chill the mixture before cutting. This may take longer than 3 hours depending on your fridge, but I find it cools pretty quickly.
Jacqueline says
So good! They are a great little treat to use up my late summer strawberries. The shortbread cookies were a nice touch with the strawberries and I can’t wait to try different crust and topping combos
Alicia says
Thank you so much!
Jacqueline says
So good! They are a great little treat to use up my late summer strawberries. The shortbread cookies were a nice touch with the strawberries and I can’t wait to try different crust and topping combos