Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

Crust & Topping

170 g. butter, softened, plus more for pan 180 g. plain flour 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. baking soda 110 g. brown sugar 100 g. sugar 1 large egg 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 220 g. semisweet chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling

500 g. cream cheese, softened 160 g. sugar 40 g. plain flour 1/3 cup sour cream 3 large eggs 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1/4 tsp. salt 60 g. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Crust

1. Arrange a rack in center of oven; preheat to 180°C (160°C fan). Generously grease a 13" x 9" pan with butter and line with parchment, leaving an 2" overhang on both long sides. Grease parchment with butter.
2. In a medium bowl whisk flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat on medium-low speed just until combined. Fold in chips.
4. Press about two-thirds of dough into bottom of prepared pan; refrigerate remaining dough until ready to use.
5. Bake crust until puffed and pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes; it will look a little bit undercooked.

Filling

1. In a large bowl, using handheld mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese, granulated sugar, flour, and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt and beat until combined. Pour egg mixture over crust; smooth top.
2. Bake cheesecake until top no longer looks wet and just begins to set, but is still very jiggly all over, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Crumble reserved dough into pea-sized pieces and sprinkle over cheesecake filling. Continue to bake until filling is set and topping is pale golden, 15 to 20 minutes more. Let cool.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
5. In a small heatproof bowl set over a small saucepan of barely simmering water (do not let bowl touch water), heat chips, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth, about 3 minutes.
6. Using parchment overhang, lift out bar and transfer to a clean work surface. Drizzle top with melted chocolate. Refrigerate to set chocolate, about 15 minutes.
7. Using a serrated knife, slice into bars.