Turtle Cheesecake Bars Recipe – Gemma’s Greater Bolder Baking

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Hello Daring Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: This Turtle Cheesecake Bars Recipe is the famous person dessert that household and mates will beg you to bake time and again!  Graham cracker crust hugs tangy cheesecake filling coated in buttery caramel, nuts, and decadent chocolate ganache. Cheesecake is beloved worldwide, and this recipe improves on the basic by providing you with the basic creamy filling with a turtle-candy topping in an ideal, transportable bar. For the reason that topping and crust could be made forward, you possibly can assemble this dessert over a couple of days to keep away from a last-minute rush. Turtle Cheesecake Bars are perfect for a dessert buffet, vacation get together, or an anytime indulgence!

I am keen on cheesecake, and I do know you do too as a result of basic recipes like Gemma’s Finest-Ever New York Cheesecake and no-bake sorts corresponding to No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake and 5-Minute Microwave Cheesecake are Daring Bakers’ favorites! A cheesecake that may feed a crowd is strictly what we’d like for the vacations, and this Turtle Cheesecake Bars Recipe, with its wow-factor sweet bar topping, is a winner.

Desk of Contents

What are Turtle Cheesecake Bars?

• Turtle Cheesecake Bars offer you all the perfect elements of a cheesecake in a bar type. Every slice has a beneficiant ratio of graham cracker crust, piled-high cream cheese filling, and a thick caramel, chocolate, and pecan layer.
• An early type of cheesecake was made in Historic Greece. Nevertheless it wasn’t till a New York dairyman named William Lawrence by chance invented cream cheese in 1872 that the dessert grew to become the kind of cheesecake we all know and love now.
• Turtle sweet, named as a result of the cluster of pecans coated with caramel and chocolate resembles$ a cute little turtle, grew to become well-liked within the U.S. within the early twentieth century.

Key Substances and Why

• Graham crackers

  • Crushed graham crackers give the cheesecake a pleasantly crumbly crust that’s nonetheless agency sufficient to yield bars that may maintain collectively.
  • Graham crackers are mildly candy, with hints of honey, cinnamon, and a delicate contact of nuttiness from complete wheat flour.
  • Make this recipe even bolder through the use of Do-it-yourself Graham Crackers.

• Butter

  • Within the crust, butter binds the graham cracker crumbs collectively. It additionally provides a pleasing, savory, salty observe.
  • Within the caramel sauce, butter provides wealthy dairy taste. Simply as importantly, butter provides the sauce thickness and a velvety, easy consistency.

• Cream cheese

  • Cream cheese gives tanginess and a easy, luxurious mouthfeel.
  • Use block-style cream cheese on this recipe. It’s thicker than tub or whipped cream cheese, and it’ll give your cheesecake the right consistency.
  • Study The best way to Make Your Personal Cream Cheese. It’s simple!

• Granulated sugar

  • Granulated sugar sweetens the cheesecake filling and completely balances its tangy style.
  • Caramelized sugar is the bottom of the caramel sauce. As sugar caramelizes, its taste modifications from sharply sugary-sweet to a extra profound, intense sweetness like butterscotch or toffee.
  • As sugar caramelizes, it transforms from a white strong to an amber-colored syrup.
  • Sugar and water are simmered to make caramel. Take a look at my troubleshooting information, The best way to Make Caramel, for detailed professional tricks to set you up for achievement.

• Eggs

Eggs bind the cheesecake substances collectively and provides the dessert a constant construction and texture.

Bitter cream contributes to the plush texture of the cheesecake filling and provides to the dessert’s tanginess.

The bittersweet chocolate provides the ganache topping the right cocoa observe to offset the cheesecake filling and wealthy caramel sauce.

• Heavy cream

  • Heavy whipping cream or heavy cream is simply pure FRESH CREAM skimmed from milk, with a fats content material of round 36% to have the ability to whip up effectively. Heavy cream’s high-fat content material contributes to caramel’s velvety texture, enhances taste complexity, and stabilizes caramel with out curdling.
  • Heavy cream enriches the sauce.
  • Common or gentle cream is not going to work on this recipe as a consequence of its low-fat content material.

• Pecans

Pecans give texture and crunch to the creamy cheesecake, and their nutty taste marries fantastically with the sweetness of the filling and the toppings.

The best way to Make Turtle Cheesecake Bars

• Prep

  • Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C).
  • Line the baking sheet with parchment paper.

• Make the Crust

  • Crush the graham crackers in a meals processor or with a rolling pin.
  • Combine graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and press into pan.

• Make the Cheesecake Filling

  • Beat cream cheese and sugar till easy. Subsequent, add eggs, bitter cream, and vanilla, and stir till blended.
  • Unfold the combination on the ready crust.
  • Bake for 40 to 45 minutes till agency. Cool to room temperature.

• Make the Sauces

  • Chocolate Ganache
    • Put chopped chocolate in a bowl. Pour heated cream over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir till easy and let the ganache cool.
  • Caramel Sauce: 
    • Mix sugar and water in a saucepan and cook dinner over medium warmth, stirring sometimes, till sugar is dissolved.
    • Ensure that to let sugar COMPLETELY dissolve first earlier than bringing it to a simmer. In any other case, the sugar tends to crystallize.
    • Increase the warmth to medium-high, and with out stirring, let the combination simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
    • Observe: As soon as the sugar involves a simmer, NO MORE STIRRING. Prepare dinner till it reaches a deep amber colour.
    • Add the butter and stir till melted.
    • After the effervescent subsides, stir in heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Let cool till thickened.

• Assemble and Serve

  • Scatter nuts on prime of the cooled cheesecake.
  • Subsequent, drizzle cheesecake with caramel sauce, after which drizzle with chocolate ganache.
  • Lastly, refrigerate for six hours till chilled and agency. Minimize into squares and serve.

Can I Make Turtle Cheesecake Bars in Advance?

Sure, you can also make Turtle Cheesecake Bars upfront. Put together the crust, filling, and sauces individually:

• Crust

  • You can also make the crust as much as two days upfront. Cowl it with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
  • When able to bake, assemble and bake as directed within the recipe.

• Filling

  • Put together the cheesecake filling and retailer it in an air-tight container. Refrigerate for as much as two days.
  • Deliver the filling to room temperature (about half-hour) earlier than spreading it over the crust and baking because the recipe directs.

• Chocolate Ganache and Caramel Sauce

  • Make ganache and funky to room temperature for about quarter-hour. Pour right into a clear and dry hermetic container and refrigerate for as much as two weeks.
  • Make caramel sauce, let it cool for half-hour, switch it right into a lidded jar, and retailer it within the fridge.
  • Whenever you’re prepared to make use of it, heat the sauce up on the range or within the microwave.

The best way to Retailer Turtle Cheesecake Bars

• Retailer Turtle Cheesecake Bars, uncovered, within the fridge for as much as three days.
• Alternatively, you possibly can wrap them effectively individually and freeze them for as much as 4 weeks.

FAQs

• Can I make Turtle Cheesecake Bars with out eggs?

• Can I make these Turtle Cheesecake Bars with out nuts?

Sure, you possibly can merely omit them or use toasted pumpkin seeds,  broken-up pretzels, cacao nibs, toffee bits, or crushed crisp cookies like biscotti if you happen to’re in search of some crunch.

• How do I be sure that my cheesecake filling isn’t heavy and dense?

  • Ensure that the cream cheese is at room temperature, and whip it up with the sugar till it’s gentle and fluffy.
  • Doing it will incorporate air and construct up a construction to carry the opposite substances.

• After I’ve made cheesecake earlier than, it turned out rubbery. How can I keep away from this?

  • In case your cheesecake turned out eggy or rubbery, it was overcooked.
  • Remember to bake the cheesecake simply till it seems almost set and solely a small circle within the heart jiggles barely. The middle will agency up in the course of the cooling time.

• My caramel crystalized–what occurred?

  • Caramel crystallizes as a consequence of uneven warmth from a thin-bottomed saucepan, dramatic temperature change, elevating the warmth too early, improper stirring, lack of stirring, and lack of cooking time.
  • Remember to learn my troubleshooting information, How To Make Caramel, to make excellent caramel sauce each time!

Gemma’s Professional Chef Suggestions

• Make this dessert even bolder through the use of home made graham crackers.
• Take a look at my easy recipes to make your personal bitter cream, cream cheese, and vanilla extract to make use of on this recipe.
• For the smoothest, velvety cheesecake with no lumps, be sure that to make use of brick-style cream cheese.
• Remember to line the pan with parchment paper to stop the cheesecake from sticking.
• It’s essential to make use of a stainless-steel saucepan and never an aluminum pan to make the caramel. Chrome steel is non-reactive, and due to this fact, it gained’t adversely have an effect on the caramelization course of or the flavour or colour of the caramel
• Don’t stir the caramel whereas it’s cooking, however you should use a pastry brush with water to brush down any sugar crystals that construct up on the facet of the saucepan.

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