Layered with shortbread, cheesecake and glaze these Almond Cheesecake Bars are easy, addicting and the perfect dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth!
Let’s admit it, we all have a favorite bakery, amiright? We have one that is about an hour from us and they serve these Almond Cheesecake Bars that I became quickly addicted to over the years and a few years ago I tried my hand at recreating them, and I’m so happy that I did.
We love cheesecake bars around here you can check out my Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Bars, Oreo Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars and my Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Bars to really see how deep this addiction runs.
But almond has always been one of my favorite flavors and with layers of short bread, almond cheesecake and an almond glaze these Almond Cheesecake Bars are one of my absolute favorite desserts of all time.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED:
- Butter
- Flour
- Powdered sugar
- Cream cheese
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Almond extract
- Milk
- Sliced almonds
I’m not sure if you are like me and have that one favorite flavor of something, but mine has always been and always will be almond. Doesn’t matter in what form, cake, bars, etc.
So when I say that this recipe is super simple, it really is. I love simple desserts because that means that I can get them in my mouth faster than not. But I mean, who wouldn’t want that right?
This recipe can easily be doubled for a larger crowd, which I would highly recommend, because these are so good. We finally got to updating this old post and brought these to Easter because I know how much my mom absolutely adores these cheesecake bars,
HOW TO MAKE ALMOND CHEESECAKE BARS:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In bowl mix together your shortbread layer ingredients with a pastry blender, fork or hands until combined,
- Press into a 9″x13″ un-greased bar or cake pan and bake in oven for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile in bowl make your cheesecake layer by beating your cream cheese until smooth, add in your eggs, sugar and almond extract until smooth and combined.
- Remove your shortbread from oven and immediately pour and spread your cheesecake over the top and place back in oven to bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until set.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- When cool in bowl whisk together your glaze ingredients until combined adding more powdered sugar or milk until you reach your desired consistency.
- Spread over cooled cheesecake and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
We have made these cheesecake bars over the years for so many different occasions and they seem to always be the first things to go. I think there are a lot of people out there who are just like me and love almond.
We do a lot of different functions where we have to provide bars such as church events, sporting events, etc and we’ve been requested to bring these bars in the past, people always think that bars like these are really complicated to make when in reality they really aren’t.
I know that there are some people who absolutely are scared off in baking, one of my best friends is absolutely afraid of it and feels like she cannot do it, but friends I reassure you, although they say cooking is an art and baking is a science, which is true, baking is really easy.
If you follow the directions, you’re most likely able to have favorable outcome…most of the time. But with these Almond Cheesecake Bars, every time you will have a delicious and amazing outcome, they are just that simple.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- We like to use a bar pan (aka 1/4 sheet pan), the sides are a lot shorter than a your typical cake pan, so it makes getting the bars out so much easier.
- Always beat your cream cheese first when making cheesecake. It really helps reduce the chances of lumps of cream cheese throughout your cheesecake, especially in this thin layer.
- You can use heavy cream or milk in your glaze recipe, we usually use milk, but the cream would give the glaze a richer flavor.
- You could also use slivered almonds on the top of this as well, we like sliced but have used slivered in the past.
If you are looking for the perfect bar recipe to just have at home, bring to a get together or to give away (but why would you want to) then these Almond Cheesecake Bars are the answer to all of those things!
Almond Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread layer:
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Cheesecake layer:
- 1 8oz pkg cream cheese, very soft
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
Almond glaze:
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 1/2 Tbs milk or cream
- 1 tsp almond extract
- Sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In bowl mix together your shortbread layer ingredients with a pastry blender, fork or hands until combined, press into a 9"x13" un-greased bar or cake pan and bake in oven for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile in bowl make your cheesecake layer by beating your cream cheese until smooth, add in your eggs, sugar and almond extract until smooth and combined.
- Remove your shortbread from oven and immediately pour and spread your cheesecake over the top and place back in oven to bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until set.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- When cool in bowl whisk together your glaze ingredients until combined adding more powdered sugar or milk until you reach your desired consistency.
- Spread over cooled cheesecake and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Laurie Lippmann
Could you use almond flour for this recipe?
Tornadough Alli
Unfortunately I have never tried, so I cannot give an honest opinion.
Barbara Rigot
Three generations of my family loved this dessert. Next time will double the recipe for the cream cheese layer at the request of my family. This is a real keeper, and have passed the recipe along to three other people …… so far.
Jocelyn
These are off the chart yummy! Has quickly become one of my favorite recipes! Easy to make and so delicious. People rant and rave about them.
Tennisgirl
Why does the picture have layers & the recipe doesn’t mention layers?
Tornadough Alli
Because I stacked them for photos. They aren’t layered, they are just stacked for photo purposes.
Judith Forsythe
I agree. And should they be refrigerated?
Susan
Soooo delicious! The ladies at our Bible study raved about the bars and asked for the recipe!
Lili
I made them and all loved them. I may try an almond biscotti crust next.