Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Cookie Bars Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Cookie Bars Recipe

These Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Cookie Bars are a deliciously rich and tart all on top of a cookie crust. Super easy and transportable dessert.

Prep Time1 15

Cook Time25

Total Time1 40

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: American, Christmas, Holiday

Servings: cookie bars

Author: Adrianna Adarme

Cost: $9

Equipment

9x13 baking pan

Ingredients

Dulce de leche:

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Cookie Base:

3/4 cup unsalted butter melted
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Cheesecake Topping:

8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
Pinch of salt
Sea salt for topping

Instructions

To Make the Dulce de Leche:

Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a saucepan. Set over medium-low heat and stir continuously, until the condensed milk has gone from white to light caramel color, about 30 minutes. If it at all clumps up, transfer it to the blender or food processor and pulse until smooth.

To Make the Cookie Bars:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and line the bottom of the 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment. I like to cut the parchment and leave extra little flaps on the sides so the bars are easy to pull out of the pan.
In the bowl of a stand-up mixer (or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer), add the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat until combined, about 1 minute. Next, crack in the eggs and vanilla extract; mix until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat one last time until you no longer see any speckles of flour. Pour the cookie dough into the prepared pan, scraping out as much dough as possible; press the dough, spreading it to the edges with your fingers. Smooth the top as well as you can.
In the same bowl (no need to wash it out, that’s why you scraped it out!), add the cream cheese, sugar, egg and salt. Beat until mostly smooth (it might be a tad bit lumpy and that’s ok!), about 2 minutes. Pour on top of the cookie dough and smooth it out with the spatula into an even layer.
Drop small teaspoons (about 1/3 cup) of dulce de leche onto the cheesecake layer, leaving about an inch between the dollops. Using a butter knife or skewer, swirl the dulce de leche
in loopy strokes until the surface is marbled.
Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the surface is only a little jiggly. Allow to cool completely, about an hour, before slicing into rectangles. Top with sprinkles of sea salt.

Notes

Short-cut:

Feel free to use store-bought dulce de leche.

Stiff dulce de leche problem:

If your dulce de leche is cold and a bit stiff, it'll have trouble swirling, to combat this issue simply warm it up in the microwave or in a small saucepan until warm.

To Make Ahead:

You can make this up to two days ahead. To do so, make the entire recipe and transfer to the fridge to chill for up to a day. If it's more than a day, I'd suggest slicing it up and storing it in an airtight container.

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