Cream Cheese Bars

These cream cheese bars are absolutely amazing, however, there's one thing I'd change. Next time I would definitely use milk chocolate for topping. Actually  I hated the bitterness of the chocolate so I simply took it out and ate it without chocolate. I made some modifications in the original recipe: I reduced the amount of sugar and it was sweet enough for me so I recommend reducing sugar for you as well. And I omitted nuts. I just didn't have any but actually I didn't even miss them. I think these bars are better creamy without any crunchiness.

Sorry about the photos. I've no idea why the color of these bars looks so strange. Well, I'm not a professional photographer. It was a dark and foggy day.

Cream Cheese Bars

1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons flour (divided use)
1 cup sugar (I used 180g)
2/3 cup butter, softened
225g (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar (I used 100g)
2 eggs
340g (12 ounces)  semisweet chocolate chips* (divided use)
½ to ¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (I omitted)

*I used less chocolate and I didn't add any inside the bars, I used it only for topping. And as I've mentioned before I prefer milk chocolate.


Preheat oven to 180C (350 F) degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1½ cups flour, sugar, and butter. Beat at medium speed about 2 minutes or until crumbly and well blended.  Press mixture into an ungreased pan.  Bake for 12 minutes; remove from oven.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and eggs at medium speed until smooth, approximately 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips.  

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the partially baked crust.  Bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until topping is almost set.  

Remove from oven. Immediately sprinkle the remaining cup of chocolate chips over top.  Return to oven for 1 minute to melt chips.  

Remove from oven. Gently spread melted chips over top.  Sprinkle with nuts, lightly pressing them into the chocolate.  

Refrigerate 1 hour.  Cut into bars.  Store in the refrigerator.