Lime Cheesecake Sugar Cookie Bars
Lime Cheesecake Sugar Cookie Bars are super-easy-to-make dessert bars made with a rich and creamy lime cheesecake filling topped on a chewy sugar cookie crust. Made with only 4 ingredients, these cheesecake bars are a cinch to put together!
A luscious cheesecake batter made with rich and tangy cream cheese, bright, fresh lime juice and a little bit of sugar is the decadent filling that tops a chewy sugar cookie crust in these Lime Cheesecake Sugar Cookie Bars.
They’re an easy-to-make dessert that will be loved by fans of cheesecake or citrus!
These bars were really born out of necessity. Well, maybe “necessity” is a strong word, but I seriously needed wanted dessert and it had to be cheesecake.
I had a ton of limes on hand because, hey, it was Saturday and Perfect Dark & Stormy cocktails were being made, and I also had multiple bricks of cream cheese in my fridge. Lime cheesecake bars were the obvious answer!
What kind of sugar cookie crust is best?
I felt like getting creative in my lime cheesecake bar adventure, so I ditched my typical graham cracker crust and decided to make a crust with sugar cookie dough.
- My first attempt at a sugar cookie crust was a pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix combined with melted butter. While tasty, we thought the crust was just too hard. It broke easily trying to finagle them out of the baking dish, and we also thought it was too crunchy while eating.
- My next test was with a roll of Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough. The result? Not too hard, not too soft. Goldilocks would enjoy the chewy sugar cookie crust that the Pillsbury dough achieved!
Fun Fact: These cheesecake bars are made with NO eggs! That’s right. I didn’t have any eggs on hand and wanted to see how cheesecake bars would turn out without them…they’re great! While eggs might give cheesecake a more firm texture, you still get all the wonderful flavors of cheesecake in this egg-free recipe!
Ingredients needed to make this recipe (scroll down for complete recipe):
- Cream cheese
- Sugar
- Limes
- Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough
How to make this recipe:
1. Spread out 3/4 of the cookie dough in a glass baking dish and press it down to form the crust. Bake it until golden, then let it cool.
2. Mix the cream cheese, sugar, and lime juice with a hand mixer until smooth, then spread the cream cheese batter over the pre-baked sugar cookie crust.
3. Pinch off pieces of the remaining cooking dough and scatter them over the top of the cheesecake batter.
4. Bake it in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. The cookie dough pieces on the top should be nice and golden.
I hope you enjoy these cheesecake bars as much as my family and I do! We’re kind of addicted!
Looking for more dessert recipes? Here are some favorites:
- Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts
- Lemon Raspberry Bundt Cake
- Mini Biscoff Cheesecakes (pictured below)
NOTES:
- I have only tested this recipe in a 8 x 8 glass baking dish.
- Feel free to replace the lime juice with lemon juice, either one would be fantastic. However, make sure you use fresh juice, not juice from the squeezable plastic lime/lemon bottles. It just isn’t the same.
- Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature to help avoid lumps in the batter.
- I only bake with full-fat cream cheese. Reduced fat dairy may not return ideal results.
Lime Cheesecake Sugar Cookie Bars
Equipment
- 1 8 x 8 glass baking dish
Ingredients
- 8 oz full-fat cream cheese room temperature
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp. lime juice approximately 1 1/2 limes
- 16.5 oz. roll of Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Add cream cheese, sugar, and lime juice to a mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
- Use a knife to cut off 3/4 of the cookie dough roll, set aside the remaining 1/4 of dough. Press the cookie dough into an ungreased 8 x 8 glass baking dish, making sure the crust is level and even across the dish. Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is nice and golden. When the crust comes out of the oven, it will have puffed up a little bit. Using a fork, smoosh the crust down flat, then let cool for 20 minutes.
- Pour the cheesecake batter over the pre-baked cookie dough crust. With the remaining raw cookie dough, break it off into pieces and scatter them over the top of the cheesecake batter. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes, or until the cookie dough pieces on top are nice and golden. Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe? Rate it and let me know in the comments below! ♥ I also have a fun Facebook group for us foodies to share recipes and talk about food. I’d love to have you! Request to join HERE. Cheers!
What a fabulous recipe! YUM!!