To kick off the holiday season, I made these eggnog cheesecake bars inspired by a recipe from Land O Lakes. I then continued with the eggnog theme by making eggnog bread and I think I can officially say that I am all “egg nogged” out. Can you believe that I have yet to drink the eggnog though?!

These eggnog cheesecake bars were a new experience for me and were much easier to make than expected. Making the crust was fun and the recipe didn’t take too long to make and bake. Next time, I would add a whipped cream topping to make them more like key lime pie squares. Hmm… maybe I should make those next!

I will say, that these did not rise like I thought they would. Even though my cream cheese and butter had softened, I don’t believe all the ingredients were at room temperature. This makes a difference!! It is a learning experience for me and that’s okay; I’ll try again next year (after having a break from eggnog recipes for a while). It’s actually the perfect recipe to make right before the New Year. It shows that I have learned a lot but still have much to learn (and look forward to) throughout the year ahead.

Eggnog Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

Crust

1/3 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

Filling

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Eggnog

2 (8 oz) packages of Cream Cheese, softened

3 Large Eggs

1 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour

1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°F.

Combine 1/3 cup sugar and butter in a bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg; beat at low speed until well mixed. The mixture should be crumbly. Press the crust mixture onto the bottom of an ungreased 13×9-inch baking pan.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.

Combine all filling ingredients except nutmeg in the same bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping the bowl often, until the mixture is creamy.

Spread filling over hot, partially baked crust; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg. Continue baking for 28-33 minutes or until set. Cool completely. Cut into bars with a wet knife then store refrigerated.

Since I was bringing this to a family get-together, I didn’t know how big everyone would want the squares or if they would want it done differently. Therefore, I didn’t cut them after they had cooled; I kept the entire tray in the fridge and we cut them at the event which worked out quite well, (although they were a tad harder to cut at that point).

Enjoy!

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