These soufflé-like lemon raspberry cheesecake bars are creamy and soft with burst of honey-glazed raspberry sauce in every bite. Effortlessly impressive dessert!
It seems that lemon and raspberry are such a perfect combination. I’ve been so in love with these two flavors lately.
I created this recipe when I was playing with 35lbs (Yes, I’m nuts!!) of lemons, making all kinds of sweet and tart treats, like lemon meringue pie (classic!), lemonade and lemonade concentrate, and overload of homemade lemon curd!!
And to use up my lemon curd, I made this incredibly soft, almost soufflé-like lemon raspberry cheesecake bars. I had to play around with this recipe a few times to get the perfect texture and flavor combination. Everyone in my family loved this version and I’m sure you’ll love it too.
When I had my first bite, it felt like I was having a soufflé, then the buttery crust crumbled in my mouth followed by the burst of honey-glazed raspberry sauce.
The cheesecake mixture is so light and creamy, thanks to Greek yogurt, with a hint of lemon in the background. Ah, I wish I had saved some for myself to enjoy while writing this post, but everyone gobbled it up so fast!
The recipe is pretty straightforward. The only thing I want to emphasize is to make sure your cream cheese is softened. Otherwise, the cream cheese mixture will be lumpy, instead of creamy smooth.
Also, it’s best to use all the ingredients at room temperature for the best consistency.
Have fun swirling the raspberry sauce into the cheesecake mixture. There is no right or wrong way, just use your imagination and go for it. It’s so fun! It’s my favorite part of the recipe. 🙂
Anyway, hope you’ll make and enjoy this fabulous dessert! Thanks for stopping by.
Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For crust:
- 8 full sheets graham crackers Or 1 cup cookie crumbs
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
For raspberry sauce:
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
For cheesecake filling:
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup plain greek yogurt at room temperature
- 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk at room temperature
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1/3 cup lemon curd I used this homemade version
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving two sides hanging over the edges.
- In a food processor, crush the graham crackers into fine crumbs. (If you don’t have a food processor, place the graham crackers in a ziplock bag and roll a rolling pin over the graham crackers.) Transfer the crumbs into a medium bowl and add melted butter. Mix together until the crumbs are evenly moistened with butter. Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Evenly spread it, lightly pressing into the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
- In a small saucepan, mix together raspberries, honey and 2 tablespoons of water. (Feel free to add more honey, if it’s not sweet enough for you.) Bring it to boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened, stirring constantly. Run the sauce through fine sieve to remove seeds. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat cream cheese, greek yogurt and sweetened condensed milk until creamy.
- Add the egg, lemon curd, flour, vanilla extract and salt. Continue to whisk until well combined, about 3 minutes.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture over the crust. Drop raspberry sauce on the cheesecake mixture using ¼ measuring teaspoon. Swirl the sauce with cheesecake mixture with a toothpick or skewer. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool the cake to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Cut into 12 or 16 squares, before serving. Store in the fridge, covered, for up to 5 days.
This recipe was originally published on May 19th, 2014.
Grace Morgan says
Hi! I noticed when I made this that the butter for the crust wasn’t enough. For everyone I recommend using as much butter as possibly needed to have all of the graham cracker crumbs covered. If you don’t then when you bake it, it will fall apart and not be anything more than graham cracker powder. Otherwise this is a really good recipe.
Shinee says
Hi, Grace. Thank you for sharing your recipe notes. I’ll re-test and update the recipe accordingly.