Almond Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

Take a lot at my Rustic Plum Cheesecake for an easy and more relaxed take on traditional cheesecakes! Or try my easy No Bake Cheesecake. Some days are just made for almond raspberry cheesecake. You know them, right? Not the days when you are sad and just want to stuff your face with ice cream straight from a tub. No, I am talking about bright, sunshiny days that are made even brighter by this beauty!

Cheesecake Bars

I love this recipe because it absolutely hits the spot when a cheesecake cravings set in but it’s so much easier to make than a traditional cheesecake. They are easily cut into small squares making the portion control a breeze! They are fuss free as you don’t have to faff around with water bath. No fear of this cheesecake cracking! They also bake and cool much quicker. Unlike a traditional cheesecake, which needs to be cooled in the oven to room temperature, then overnight in a fridge, these bars are ready to slice 3 hours after baking! What I also love is that the recipe produces creamy almond raspberry cheesecake bars with very little effort. You get a cheesecake studded with plump and juicy raspberries and sandwiched between almond flavoured buttery crumbs. The pastry itself is made with one part flour and one part ground almonds. The addition of almonds makes it extra delicious. It also improves the texture. I’ve drawn on a family recipe for these almond raspberry cheesecake bars, called Tertiy Pirog in Russian. I grew up eating these bars for special occasions and not so special occasions. Basically, whenever my mom felt like a day called for a cheesecake.

How to make them

Start by making the pastry. Unlike the traditional North American cheesecake recipe, where the crust is made from graham cracker crumbs and butter, this recipes uses homemade shortcrust pastry. Great news is you can easily make this pastry in your food processor. And this takes only 5 minutes! It is also a very versatile and forgiving pastry recipe. You can use it for making tarts and galettes as well. Once you make the pastry it’s very important to chill it for at least 20 minutes before you roll it out and fill with the cheese and raspberry filling. The top crumb layer is the same pastry but it’s chilled in the freezer until firm, then grated on a vegetable grater and mixed with more ground almonds.

Cheesecake filling

I’ve used Russian curd cheese Tvorog, also known as farmer’s cheese, but traditional full fat cream cheese will also work in this recipe. I just love using this lightly tangy cheese I grew up with, and sweet cheese fritters Syrniki is my favourite treat to make with it. Tvorog, Twarog or farmer’s cheese is available in many supermarkets, especially ones that have an Eastern European section. Since farmer’s cheese is quite grainy unlike cream cheese, I run the filling through a food processor to make it silky smooth. You can also use a blender or leave it alone and enjoy the texture. If you are using cream cheese, simply whip with an electric mixer.

Storage and leftovers

These bars are a part cookie, part cheesecake. However, unlike cookies they have to be refrigerated because of the high dairy content. I store these in an airtight container in my fridge. This way they will last for 3-4 days but ours are usually gone after 2!