One of my favorite dessert recipes as a kid were these chocolate chip cheese bars, which I affectionately called "Little Pieces Of Heaven." So I will share my recipe, with some of the edits that I have made over the years.
Ingredients
18 oz Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. (I like to get 20 oz or more so that you can use a larger pan and/or eat the extra cookie dough)
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened (It doesn't have to be softened, also if you want thicker pieces you can add another 3-4 oz)
1/2 cup Sugar (Add another 1/4 cup is you are adding more cream cheese)
1 Egg
Step 1: Cut the cookie dough in half and press half of it onto the bottom of a greased 8 in square baking pan. (I like to use an 8 by 12 in glass pan that is 2 in deep. I've found that the glass pan cooks more evenly. Because of this I also cut the dough into thirds and use 2/3 of it in this step. The bigger pan is also why I add more cream cheese, but I don't do it every time because it will turn out just fine anyways.)
Step 2: In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and the egg until smooth. Spread over crust. (Don't worry if it's thin, as long as it is mostly even across the top and covers all of the dough.)
Step 3: Crumble remaining dough over the top. (It doesn't need to cover everything, in fact it is better if some of the cream browns up on top. But how much you crumble is up to you. The more you crumble, the more it sticks together to make well defined bars.)
Step 4: Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. (This is where metal pans have always failed me. They don't cook evenly so the edge pieces get really burnt before the center is cooked through.)
Step 5: Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate leftovers. (I've never done either of these. I let it cool in the pan and try to serve it warm if I can. As long as the pan is covered, it can be left out for 2-3 days.)
Other Notes: When pressing the cookie dough into the pan, it doesn't have to be covering the entire thing. It will expand a bit when it cooks and that will fill most of the small gaps. You can also spread it really thin and it will still cook to be solid. I have also found that when it starts sticking to your hands a bunch, it is better to just lick your fingers and wash your hands. Not only is it annoying to constantly be redoing pieces where the dough has come back up, but it also prevents you from getting the crust nice and thin all the way across.
If you like to taste test your foods before they get cooked, make extra. On quite a number of occasions I couldn't cover the crust because I had been eating the cream. Or the top layer of dough got kind of sparse because I had been eating it. These things happen.
The recipe also says that you can use whatever kind of cookie dough you want, but I recommend chocolate chip. I've tried a sugar cookie type of dough, but I didn't like how it melded with the cream. But, do what you want. No recipe should be followed exactly. They're really more like guidelines, anyways.
And yes, I did end with a quote from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Ingredients
18 oz Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. (I like to get 20 oz or more so that you can use a larger pan and/or eat the extra cookie dough)
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened (It doesn't have to be softened, also if you want thicker pieces you can add another 3-4 oz)
1/2 cup Sugar (Add another 1/4 cup is you are adding more cream cheese)
1 Egg
Step 1: Cut the cookie dough in half and press half of it onto the bottom of a greased 8 in square baking pan. (I like to use an 8 by 12 in glass pan that is 2 in deep. I've found that the glass pan cooks more evenly. Because of this I also cut the dough into thirds and use 2/3 of it in this step. The bigger pan is also why I add more cream cheese, but I don't do it every time because it will turn out just fine anyways.)
Step 2: In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and the egg until smooth. Spread over crust. (Don't worry if it's thin, as long as it is mostly even across the top and covers all of the dough.)
Step 3: Crumble remaining dough over the top. (It doesn't need to cover everything, in fact it is better if some of the cream browns up on top. But how much you crumble is up to you. The more you crumble, the more it sticks together to make well defined bars.)
Step 4: Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. (This is where metal pans have always failed me. They don't cook evenly so the edge pieces get really burnt before the center is cooked through.)
Step 5: Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate leftovers. (I've never done either of these. I let it cool in the pan and try to serve it warm if I can. As long as the pan is covered, it can be left out for 2-3 days.)
Other Notes: When pressing the cookie dough into the pan, it doesn't have to be covering the entire thing. It will expand a bit when it cooks and that will fill most of the small gaps. You can also spread it really thin and it will still cook to be solid. I have also found that when it starts sticking to your hands a bunch, it is better to just lick your fingers and wash your hands. Not only is it annoying to constantly be redoing pieces where the dough has come back up, but it also prevents you from getting the crust nice and thin all the way across.
If you like to taste test your foods before they get cooked, make extra. On quite a number of occasions I couldn't cover the crust because I had been eating the cream. Or the top layer of dough got kind of sparse because I had been eating it. These things happen.
The recipe also says that you can use whatever kind of cookie dough you want, but I recommend chocolate chip. I've tried a sugar cookie type of dough, but I didn't like how it melded with the cream. But, do what you want. No recipe should be followed exactly. They're really more like guidelines, anyways.
And yes, I did end with a quote from Pirates of the Caribbean.
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