Crème Brûlée Cheesecake Bars

Warning! These are highly addictive. I cannot be held responsible for any weight gain you might encounter due to single handily eating the whole pan and I won't bail you out of jail due to killing your roommate or significant other because they ate the last one.

Now that we have the legal disclaimer out of the way, let me introduce you to what will soon be your favorite go to dessert. These puppies are ridiculous! To quote Joey from Friends (improvised to fit recipe), "What's not to like? Cookie, good. Cheesecake, good. Crunchy, sugar topping...GOOOOD!!" Not only are they fan-freakin'-tastic, they are super easy to make. Now, I can't take credit for this recipe, but what I will take credit for is introducing them into your life. Hope you enjoy them as much as my boyfriend and I have.

Recipe from Betty Crocker

• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
• 1 box (4-serving size) French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
• 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup toffee bits, finely crushed 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 glass pan.
2. Mix cake mix, pudding, brown sugar, butter, 1 whole egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla together until combined.
3. Press evenly in pan. Set aside.
4. With mixer on medium, cream together cream cheese, 1 whole egg and 3 egg yolks, sour cream, sugar, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until smooth.
5. Pour cheesecake mixture over crust evenly.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until center is set. It took mine 33 minutes.
7. Immediately sprinkle toffee bits over top and let cool on counter top for 30 minutes.
8. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until desired coolness.  

Tips and Tricks

• Use a food processor to grind the toffee bits into small pieces. This helps them melt on the top of the bars when they come out of the oven making that perfect crunchy sugar top.
• If you can't find toffee bits, you can use sugar. Just sprinkle evenly over the top, set your oven to broil, and cook for 3 minutes or until nicely browned. Keep an eye on this, it can burn very quickly!
• For easy cutting, run hot water over a sharp knife. The heat will help slice right through the cheesecake layer and the sharp blade will cut through the dense crust.
• If you would like a thinner crust, only use 2/3 of the sugar cookie mixture.
• You can customize this recipe with different cookie types and pudding mixes. Next time I am going to use lemon pudding mix in the crust and replacing 1 teaspoon of the vanilla in the cheesecake mixture with lemon juice, or enough for the lemon to stand out. I'm a sucker for anything lemon.