Thick buttery graham cracker crust topped with lemon strawberry-swirled filling to make these delicious Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars! Chill them for a tasty summer dessert!
If you love easy and delicious dessert recipes, then you’ll also love my Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake Bars, Chocolate Sheet Cake with Strawberry Frosting, and Cream Cheese Brownies (Cheesecake Brownies).
I have some really happy news…
I FINALLY got my hands on a batch of mouthwatering, perfectly sweet and juicy strawberries!!
Pretty please pretend to be half as excited as I am.
I’ve been seeing crates and crates of strawberries in the stores lately, so naturally I’ve been buying them in droves, but every single week I’ve been disappointed. Too sour. Too soft. Not soft enough.
Is a perfect batch of strawberries too much to ask for??
But like I said, I got some incredible strawberries this week and I am shoving them into my mouth by the handful. Don’t worry though, I saved enough of them to whip up these ultra-mega-yummy cheesecake bars. With a hint of lemon and the most incredibly buttery graham cracker crust you could ever ask for, these beauties are nothing short of summerlicious!
Try this No-Bake Cheesecake recipe next!
Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
- 12 graham cracker sheets
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter - melted
Cheesecake Layer
- 16 ounces cream cheese - softened (2 8-ounce bricks)
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 egg - at room temperature
- 1-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Strawberry Swirl
- ⅓ cup chopped strawberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons water - as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray.
- First prepare the crust. In a food processor (or good quality blender) pulse graham crackers and sugar until fine crumbs form. Add melted butter and pulse again until mixture comes together. Press into the bottom of prepared pan and bake 10 minutes.
- Next prepare the cheesecake layer. In a medium-large bowl cream together cream cheese, sugar, egg, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth. Pour mixture over crust.
- To make the strawberry swirl, add strawberries and sugar to a blender or food processor and pulse until finely pureed. (add 1-2 tablespoons as water until mixture is easily spreadable)
- Drop spoonfuls of the strawberry mixture over the top of the cheesecake layer. Use the tip of a knife to swirl the strawberry mixture into the cheesecake mixture – a figure 8 pattern works great! (Careful not to insert the knife too far so that you don’t disturb the crust at the bottom)
- Bake for 25-35 minutes until cheesecake is set. Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes, then transfer to fridge to chill at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Store chilled in airtight container or covered with plastic wrap.
Do I need to let the crust chill before I add the Cheese cake mix?
It does not need to be completely cooled- but a couple minutes out of the oven would be good!
everYthing was good, except the strawberry swirl. Even without adding water, the strawberry sugar mixture was complete soup. So it was just a puddle of steawberry water On top of the cheesecake. Usually i would have sinmered the strawberry sugar With cornstarch on the stovetop to get it A more jelly CONSISTENCY, then swirl accordingly. Maybe this will help others who may have had rhe same problem. Crust and filling was delicious!
Sorry to hear you had that issue! Thanks for sharing your feedback and insight.
Absolutely loved the recipe. Didn’t add any water to the blended strawberry & it was perfect!
Loved this recipe! When making the strawberry swirl, I thought it was fine without adding water. Will probably always make it that way. Recipe is definitely a keeper!!!
Loved this recipe! When making the strawberry swirl, I thought it was fine without adding water. Will probably always make it that way. Recipe is definitely a keeper!!!
Intersting! Thanks for sharing!