Purple White and Blue Bars

These crimson, white and blue bars have an excellent creamy cheesecake filling, a thick graham cracker crust and are topped off with blueberries and raspberries to create a US flag design, making these bars good for the 4th of July or Memorial Day. They are often made historically or gluten-free through the use of gluten-free graham crackers.

I’ve been running a blog for 12 years and have but to make something for July 4th. When you’ve got unhealthy allergy symptoms and no air con, that means it’s important to open your home windows for a number of hours each morning to make the indoor temperatures bearable, summer season is form of a depressing and unproductive time.

I don’t wish to contribute even additional to the unpleasantness by turning on the oven and don’t actually really feel like doing a lot of something with meals apart from making frozen desserts.

I do have my Ninja out on the balcony so I can bake smaller issues in an 8″x8″ pan like these berry bars and cornbread, each of which might be nice for the 4th of July.

However for recipes that require the regular-sized oven, I’ve to attend for a cooler day, bake late at night time after which have the home windows open all night time to chill the place down. These bars had been price it. 😁

I first thought of making no-bake cheesecake bars however determined in opposition to that as a result of they usually flip to goo within the warmth. Since so many individuals wish to have picnics and BBQs for the 4th of July, listed here are some baked cheesecake bars that maintain up properly within the warmth.

You continue to gained’t wish to depart them outdoors all day. They’re dairy-based, so you possibly can’t depart them out within the warmth for various hours.

By the way in which, I simply posted these Memorial Day Cookies over on Simple Healthful! They are often made with all-purpose, white entire wheat or King Arthur Flour Gluten-free Measure for Measure Flour.

They’re tremendous simple to embellish! You want completely zero adorning expertise. 🙂

Substances

Simply your primary cheesecake elements right here.

For the crust

• Graham crackers – should you don’t have entry to those, I speak about a sub utilizing digestive biscuits beneath.
• Brown sugar – you should use granulated sugar should you want, however brown sugar provides a bit extra taste and makes the crust slightly bit chewier and fewer crumbly, which I feel is an effective factor.




• Butter – I haven’t tried these bars with coconut oil or anything rather than the butter. I figured that the bars are already filled with dairy, so it’s greatest to go along with butter, which can give the crust a greater taste than coconut oil.
• Salt

For the cheesecake filling

• Cream cheese – you want to use common full-fat cream cheese if you’d like your bars to have the perfect texture. Diminished fats would possibly work, however I’m unsure. Please don’t use fat-free!
• Granulated sugar – there’s no sub for this except you wish to use a keto sweetener. There’s extra about that beneath.
• Bitter cream – this makes these cheesecake bars tremendous creamy! I haven’t tried Greek yogurt or anything instead, so I can’t say what impact it’d have.
• Eggs – egg subs gained’t work right here.
• Vanilla and salt

For the ornament

• Contemporary blueberries and raspberries – not frozen!

Graham cracker crust

You want 3 cups of graham cracker crumbs for the crust. That’s 23 or 24 full sheets of graham crackers.

So you know the way a lot to really purchase, you want 12.7 oz or 360 grams. A normal field of graham crackers is 14.4 oz, so that you’ll have about 2 sheets of graham crackers left over.

When you’re within the UK, digestives are a very good sub, however they’re not a direct sub as the feel is totally different. You may scroll down right here (or press Ctrl + F or ⌘ + F on Macs) to the place it says, “Digestive Biscuit Crumb Crust Different.”

She’s upped the quantity of crumbs and sugar to make up for the variations between graham crackers and digestives.

That recipe is for a pie pan, so that you’ll have to make 1.5x the recipe for right this moment’s recipe. That’ll provide you with a crust utilizing 3 cups of crumbs, similar to my recipe.

And should you’re in Germany, the Vollkornkeks from Leibniz are a terrific direct sub for graham crackers. No have to make changes like with digestives.

When you stay outdoors of the US, make sure to maintain studying for extra ideas in regards to the elements wanted for this recipe.

The filling

The filling of this recipe is tailored from my Keto Cheesecake – however I used common sugar for these bars. To fill a 9″x13″ pan, which is required for the US flag design, I upped the filling by a 3rd. The cheesecake layer was too skinny with the unique quantity of filling.

Additionally, don’t be alarmed should you evaluate the 2 recipes. I deliberately didn’t improve the quantity of bitter cream by a 3rd, so what you see beneath is appropriate. 🙂

I really like how creamy the bars are with the bitter cream. When you don’t like bitter cream or simply don’t have any, you would make these Mini Cheesecakes, that are additionally crimson, white and blue. Greek yogurt would possibly work rather than the bitter cream, however I haven’t tried it.

Gluten-free and grain-free model

All it’s important to do for gluten-free is use gluten-free graham crackers. Any model will do.

I really like these Honey Cinnamon Seed & Nut Flour Candy Thins from Easy Mills. They’re denser than graham crackers however nonetheless nice for making crust. They’re additionally grain-free!

The one drawback is that they’re extraordinarily costly. Nonetheless, it looks like all groceries within the US value a small fortune today, so perhaps they’re not all that costly in comparison with different graham crackers and cookies.

I learn in a single submit about gluten-free graham crackers that they’re not so nice for baking. However I attempted them out on this recipe and the outcome was good.

I used 360 grams, similar to the recipe requires. The quantity is likely to be totally different, so go by grams. I didn’t have to make any changes.

You can additionally strive utilizing the shortbread crust in my Gluten-free Cheesecake Recipe.

I feel you’d have to make 1.5x the recipe to suit the 9″x13″ pan.

Keto model?

To make the filling keto, you simply have to make use of one of many really helpful sweeteners in my Keto Cheesecake recipe. Keep in mind to extend it by a 3rd!

There’s no technique to keto-fy the crust of right this moment’s recipe. It requires graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar. However my keto cheesecake recipe has a crust much like a graham cracker crust, in order that’d really be good for the flag bars.

I’d additionally up the crust recipe by a 3rd to be sure you have sufficient to cowl the underside of the 9″x13″ pan.

Can I make these vegan?

Sadly not. You’d want to seek out an already vegan recipe. I LOVE my Vegan Cheesecake Recipe, and assume that’d work properly. However you’d in all probability have to double the recipe for a 9″x13″ pan, which can actually be painfully costly.

And also you’d additionally have to discover a totally different crust recipe. I feel one thing with out cocoa powder could be higher.

Can I make them eggless?

No, however you possibly can strive rising this Eggless Cheesecake recipe by a 3rd and baking it in a 9″x13″ pan. So as a substitute of three 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, you’d use 4 packages.

I do not know of the baking time and haven’t tried it myself, however I feel it could work.

Can I exploit frozen berries?

I certain want you would! It’d definitely make this recipe cheaper to make.

However you undoubtedly cannot. Not solely would the bars be ugly with blobs of shriveled, defrosted berries, however the berries would bleed into the cheesecake and make it soggy.

Don’t stay within the US or Canada?

You may simply maintain scrolling should you stay within the US or Canada! This recipe was examined a number of occasions with US elements by a number of totally different individuals, so this part isn’t related for you.

It was additionally examined a number of occasions with European elements. That is what I did.

Cream cheese

The filling was slightly bit creamier with the US cream cheese than when utilizing European Philadelphia model (and each different model of cream cheese). The cream cheese right here (I stay in Germany) is extra watery and never as creamy because the brick-style cream cheese within the US.

So! For these of you residing outdoors of the US or Canada and solely have the kind of cream cheese in little tubs which is supposed to be unfold on toast, that is what you want to do:

For each 8 ounces (225 grams) of cream cheese, purchase a 300-gram package deal of cream cheese. The stuff at Lidl, Aldi, and many others. works simply in addition to Philadelphia model. Put the cream cheese within the heart of a clear tea towel or cheesecloth, and squeeze out the liquid till you’ve got 225 grams of cream cheese.

So for this recipe, you want to purchase 1200 grams of cream cheese and squeeze out the liquid till you’ve got 907 grams of cream cheese left. It’s completely superb if it’s slightly kind of.

When you assume that is dumb and couldn’t be bothered to eliminate the surplus liquid, which I understand is annoying, I wouldn’t suggest this recipe. The baking time shall be completely totally different and also you’re prone to over or underbake your cheesecake. I do know this as a result of I’ve accomplished this a number of occasions and wish to prevent the difficulty.

Butter

Utilizing European butter with its 82% fats is commonly a catastrophe in crust recipes. It’s the principle motive why I not often submit pie recipes, cheesecakes and different recipes with baked butter-based crusts.

However you should use it on this recipe. If utilizing European butter, use 156 grams of butter as a substitute of 168 grams and add 12 grams of water. Some, or the entire 12 grams, could be vanilla extract.

I hope you’ll get pleasure from these US flag cheesecake bars! When you strive them out, I’d love to listen to within the feedback how they got here out. Thanks!

❀

• Prep Time: 30 min
• Cook dinner Time: 47 min
• Prepared in: 11:15 h
• Yield: 20 bars

Substances

Crust:

• 12.7 oz (360 grams) graham crackers (23-24 sheets of graham crackers, this gives you 3 cups of crumbs)
• 1/3 cup (67 grams) brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup (168 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

• 32 ounces full-fat cream cheese (907 grams), room temperature
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (173 grams) bitter cream, room temperature
• 4 giant (50 grams every, out of shell) eggs, room temperature

Ornament:

• 18 oz (510 grams) recent raspberries
• 1 1/4 cups (6 oz / 170 grams) recent blueberries

Instructions

Put together the crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 °F (167 °C) and evenly grease a 9”x13” pan.
2. Place the graham crackers in a meals processor fitted with an S-blade and course of till you’ve got uniform superb crumbs.
3. Switch to a mixing bowl and stir within the brown sugar and salt till mixed.
4. Stir within the butter till properly mixed.
5. Pat evenly onto the underside of the ready pan.
6. Bake for 10 minutes after which take away to a wire rack to chill for no less than 10 minutes whereas getting ready the filling.

Put together the filling:

7. In a big mixing bowl utilizing an electrical hand mixer, beat collectively the cream cheese and sugar till fluffy.
8. Add the vanilla, salt and bitter cream and beat on low till mixed.
9. Add within the eggs, one after the other, till mixed. Be certain to not overmix.
10. Pour this into the crust, which has cooled for no less than 10 minutes.
11. Bake at 325 °F (167 °C) for 37-45 minutes or till the center seems set.
12. Take away from the oven, place on a wire rack, and let come to room temperature, about 2 hours, earlier than chilling for 8+ hours. You can also make the cheesecake portion as much as 4 days prematurely (and canopy and refrigerate), however I might suggest making the bars the day earlier than serving in order that they’re as recent as attainable.

Enhance:

13. Rinse and lay the berries out flat on a paper towel to dry. Pat them dry with extra paper towel earlier than adorning the bars.
14. Use the blueberries to create a US flag design on high of the bars. Within the higher left nook, make a 7×5 part of blueberries for the “stars.” For the raspberries, I like to recommend utilizing a knife to very gently mark straight strains into the bars that can information you the place to place your raspberries.
15. When you have leftovers, it is best to take away the fruit if storing for greater than 1 day to forestall it from getting soggy/moldy.
16. Undecorated cheesecake bars could be refrigerated in an hermetic container for as much as 4 days.

Notes

1. When you’re gluten-free, use gluten-free graham crackers. I examined this recipe with Honey Cinnamon Seed & Nut Flour Candy Thins from Easy Mills (utilizing 360 grams) and so they got here out nice. Common gluten-free graham crackers additionally work.
2. If utilizing European butter, use 156 grams of butter as a substitute of 168 grams and add 12 grams of water. Some, or the entire 12 grams, could be vanilla extract.
3. When you stay outdoors of the US or Canada, you want to drain a number of the whey from the cream cheese so your bars bake up correctly. The stuff at Lidl, Aldi, and many others. works simply in addition to Philadelphia model. It’s good to purchase 1200 grams of cream cheese and squeeze out the liquid till you’ve got 907 grams of cream cheese left. It’s very superb if it is slightly kind of.
4. You want 35 blueberries. The quantity known as for within the recipe gives you sufficient so that you’ve some selection to decide on similarly-sized blueberries.

Recipe by Texanerin Baking | www.texanerin.com