Halloween Cheesecake Bars are the perfect Halloween dessert to show off your spooky spirit. Creamy cheesecake with a cookie crust, these orange and black Halloween Cheesecake Bars are the perfect easy dessert to celebrate Halloween.
It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year! Anyone who knows me or follows this blog knows that Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday and my favorite time to make super fun, super easy Halloween desserts. So what better way to serve up your scary than with these easy orange and black Halloween Cheesecake Bars?
HOW DO I KNOW MY CHEESECAKE IS DONE?
When you make cheesecake, the hardest thing to know is when it is done. To check if your cheesecake is done, gently shake the cheesecake and only a small circle in the center jiggles slightly, it is done. The center will firm up as it cools and I find turning your oven off when the cooking time has completed, opening the door and letting the cheesecake sit in the open oven for about an hour creates a perfectly cooked cheesecake.
WHY DO CHEESECAKES NEED A WATER BATH?
Cheesecakes are often baked in water baths or with a pan of water placed in the oven while the cheesecake cooks. This method is used because the hot water steam from the water will ensure even baking and lessen the likelihood of of the cheesecake cracking on top.
WHERE DO I FIND BLACK FOOD COLORING?
Black food coloring is not usually found everyday in your grocery store baking aisle (unfortunently!!). To find your black food coloring, you can either order it online or stop in at your local craft store that has a cake decorating section. I prefer using the gel food coloring tubes but you can just as easily pick up one of these little cake decorating color pots for one or two dollars and they work perfectly.
HOW DO I MAKE HALLOWEEN CHEESECAKE BARS?
Easy! To make Halloween Cheesecake Bars, start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and adding a large pan of water to your bottom oven rack. Begin your cheesecake bars by adding your chocolate sandwich cookies to a food processor and pulse until pulverized.
If you do not have a food processor, no worries, simply add them to a large zip top bag, push out the extra air and then seal up the bag. Gently beat the cookies with something heavy like a pan or a rolling pin until they are reduced to crumbs. Then combine the cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl and then pour the cookie mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan lined with parchment paper. Using your fingers or a spoon, firmly press the cookies evenly on the bottom and sides of the baking pan to make your crust. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat softened cream cheese until creamy and then add in sugar and salt and mix well. One by one, add in eggs and beat until each is incorporated before adding in the next one. Add in sour cream and vanilla and continue mixing until you have a creamy filling.
Transfer 1 1/3 cup of cheesecake filling evenly into two separate bowls and add orange food coloring to one bowl and black to the other. Mix the food coloring in to combine.
Pour the white cheesecake filling on top of the cookie crust crust and smooth until even. Using a spoon, pour alternating lines of black cheesecake filling and orange cheesecake filling down the length of the cheesecake.
Swirl the colors into the cheesecake filing using the back of knife (or a chopstick!) to create a beautiful swirl pattern. The more swirls, the better..
Bake in oven for 50-55 minutes or until center is no longer wobbly. When baking time is done, turn off oven, open oven door and let your Halloween Cheesecake Bars sit for one hour in the open oven. Remove from oven and refrigerate overnight before pulling up on parchment paper and removing from baking pan. Cut into squares and serve!
These Halloween Cheesecake Bars will be your new favorite way to celebrate Halloween on a plate! Perfect for Halloween potlucks at work, play dates with your kids or just a fun way to show off your spooky side, these Halloween Cheesecake Bars will be your favorite go-to easy Halloween dessert every time.
Every. Time.
Looking for more easy delicious Halloween ideas to share with your family and friends? Check a few of my favorite Halloween inspired recipes below.
MORE EASY HALLOWEEN TREATS
- Monster Mash Halloween Candy Bark
- Toil and Trouble Halloween Cupcakes
- Halloween Pretzels
- Halloween Pumpkin Cake
- Halloween Monster Eye Cookies
ENJOY!
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Halloween Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Crust
- 20 - 25 chocolate sandwich cookies
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
Cheesecake Filling
- 3 8 ounce packages of cream cheese softened
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Orange and Black Food Coloring
Instructions
- To make Halloween Cheesecake Bars, start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees and adding a large pan of water to your bottom oven rack.
- Begin your cheesecake bars by adding your chocolate sandwich cookies to a food processor and pulse until pulverized. If you do not have a food processor, no worries, simply add them to a large zip top bag, push out the extra air and then seal up the bag. Gently beat the cookies with something heavy like a pan or a rolling pin until they are reduced to crumbs.
- Combine the cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl and then pour the cookie mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan lined with parchment paper. Using your fingers or a spoon, firmly press the cookies evenly on the bottom and sides of the baking pan to make your crust. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat softened cream cheese until creamy and then add in sugar and salt and mix well. One by one, add in eggs and beat until each is incorporated before adding in the next one. Add in sour cream and vanilla and continue mixing until you have a creamy filling. Transfer 1 1/3 cup of cheesecake filling evenly into two separate bowls and add orange food coloring to one bowl and black to the other. Mix the food coloring in to combine.
- Pour the white cheesecake filling on top of the cookie crust crust and smooth until even. Using a spoon, pour alternating lines of black cheesecake filling and orange cheesecake filling down the length of the cheesecake. Swirl the colors into the cheesecake filing using the back of knife (or a chopstick!) to create a beautiful swirl pattern. The more swirls, the better..
- Bake in oven for 50-55 minutes or until center is no longer wobbly. When baking time is done, turn off oven, open oven door and let your Halloween Cheesecake Bars sit for one hour in the open oven. Remove from oven and refrigerate overnight before pulling up on parchment paper and removing from baking pan. Cut into squares and serve!
Nutrition
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I suppose you can always mix certain colours to get black:
Black paint can be made with equal parts red, yellow, and blue paint mixed together on a palette. You can also mix complementary colors such as blue and orange, red and green, or yellow and purple. Mixing blue and brown can also result in a rich black.
Thanks for all the different ways to make black Kate, I didn’t know there were this many ways to do it. Thanks for the heads up, I will have to give it a try next time i can not get my hands on some black gel dye.
These look great. Really effective swirl pattern – perfect for the Halloween season. And the texture of the cheesecake looks perfect.
YES, please! These look amazing! Cheesecake is definitely one of my favorite desserts. This looks so creamy and that cookie crust looks divine!
Wow, I cannot believe how vibrant the black coloring is! I struggle to archive the depth of color here but I think I might have to try these next week for our Halloween party!
This is just perfect for Halloween! And they sound pretty easy to make too!
These are so festive and so pretty! The swirl is so perfect. These will be great for our upcoming halloween party!
These brownies looks really impressive, so colorful and so fun. I bet they taste perfect too. I can’t wait to make this for my kiddo on Halloween.
It looks so good and delicious! The pattern on top is so beautiful, I’d feel bad cutting it up into squares. 😀 I will definitely make them for the next Halloween party!
These Halloween Cheesecake Bars are stunning. Just perfect for a Halloween party or a harvest celebration. Yum!
My kids would go crazy for these! They are so festive – perfect for Halloween.
Not only do I think my kids would enjoy eating this, but I think they’d have a blast making them together too! So perfect for Halloween!
We have huge halloween party every year and the top of those cheesecake bars is so beautiful Im going to make these for them! I love your simple explanations on everything– especially the tup to know when a cheesecake is done!
these look freaking amazing!!! I can’t get over that swirl! these would be amazing for a Halloween party, I’d take at least 3!
These look like they come together really easily and I love the swirled Halloween design you did in black and orange. I think this could be a great recipe for many occasions when you want to switch the colors up.