Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Bars

Like all wonderful things in life, this recipe involves Nutella…so you know it’s going to be delicious. I can’t take all the credit for this week’s inspiration, since it was actually one of my coworkers that initially gave me the idea (thanks again cyn!). I have modified the original recipe a bit by switching out a regular graham cracker crust for an oreo crust, and adding the cream centers into the cheesecake filling. Why, you might ask? Because I love oreos just as much as I love Nutella. And you can never have too much chocolate (which I made clear with my Chocolate Trifecta Cake) . To make this master peice, you will need the following ingredients:

For the crust:

1 large package of oreo cookies, cream centers removed
4 T butter

For the filling:

24 ounces cream cheese, softened
the removed cream centers from the oreos
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Nutella

As always, I began by preheating my oven to 325 degrees F. I then buttered an 9×13 baking dish and lined it with parchment paper, making sure that the parchment is well pressed in the corners.

To make the quintessential oreo crust, I went old school and crushed the oreo cookies in a plastic bag using a serving spoon. This was a great opportunity get out my frustrations from the day. Once I had broken down the cookies into crumbs, I stirred them into my bowl of melted butter. I pressed the Oreo mixture evenly into the bottom of my baking dish and baked the crust until it had set (about 12 minutes). Set aside to cool.

To make the filling, I used my little hand mixer to beat the cream cheese, oreo centers, and sugar together until the mixture was smooth. I then mixed in the eggs and vanilla. I then spread the filling evenly over the crust, and dropped Nutella over top of filling. Using a knife, I swirled the Nutella into the filling.

I let this bake for about 25 minutes, or until filling is just set. I let the bars cool overnight.

It is really important that the bars are completely chilled/firm before you cut them. This means that I had to wait until I got to work to taste test them….and honestly they turned out perfectly! I baked them just long enough, and couldn’t be happier with the modifications I made to the original recipe. They were a huge hit at the office, people started eating them before 10am 😀