Toffee Crunch Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Toffee Crunch Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Crust and Topping:

• • 3 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar

  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar

  • 2 teaspoons coarse Kosher salt

  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

  • 1 bag (8 ounces) toffee bits

Filling:

• • 2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, room temperature

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar

  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar

  • 4 eggs

  • 1 cup sour cream

  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped

  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

  • 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.

Crust/Topping:

In your food processor or with a pastry cutter, combine the flour, sugars, salt and butter until pea-sized pieces of butter remain. Scoop out 1 ½ cups of the crumbs into a bowl, and toss with the toffee bits. Set aside in the refrigerator. Press the remainder of the crumbs firmly against the bottom of the baking dish. Bake crust for 15 minutes at 350. Remove the pan from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325.

Filling:

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and both sugars for 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl down between each. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla bean seeds and nutmeg. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread the filling over the crust. Sprinkle the chilled topping over the filling.

Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes, until the filling is set and the topping is golden brown. Cool at room temperature for several hours, then refrigerate until well chilled/overnight before serving. Can be made 1 day in advance.

Yields 25-30 servings