Hi All! Well, we are still in celebration mode here. There are a couple of birthday parties and Father’s Day coming up. A few days ago, we hosted a graduation party for my son, Alex, too! It seems like there is so much to celebrate right now! There are hopes for the future and thankfulness for past successes. There are also lots of birthday candles being wished upon. I hope that everyone gets their birthday wish! I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago myself, but I forgot to stick a candle in my bowl of ice cream. So sad! I had some family members over and with all the hostess duties I totally forgot that it was my birthday celebration and I should have a candle. So, to make up for it I am wishing on all the first stars that I see in the evening. Heck, I might even start wishing when I blow out the scented candles in my home every night. Might work…might not. But, all that I will be out is a little bit of breath.
In my house, we have favorite birthday celebration treats. Well, actually, I have recipes for all kinds of celebrations. You know, like holidays, anniversaries, Groundhog Day, trash day, cleaning day, or any time I darn well feel like making something yummy. If you stick with me, you will see many of those recipes on this blog. They are too good to keep to myself! One of our very favorite and most festive recipes is for funfetti cheesecake bars. These bars are so creamy and delicious with loads of sprinkles and cake batter flavor! They look so cute with all the pretty colors. You can personalize them with any color of sprinkles that you like. Just make sure to use the jimmie kind so that they kind of melt into the cheesecake and aren’t crunchy. You know, the ones that are kind of oblong and skinny and not round little balls.
You are going to need some Golden Oreos for this dessert. I buy the family size package and use 30 of them. I like to say exactly how many cookies to use because the manufacturers of many of our baking staples keep changing package sizes. Have you noticed that? That really ticks me off. I have a couple of recipes that I am working on adjusting because cake mixes are no longer the same number of ounces that they used to be. What the heck!? Why would they do that? Well, I know why but, come on! Help a girl out here! Quit messing around with my cake mixes and Oreos! Ok, rant over. Anyway, use 30 Golden Oreos. Grind them up in a food processor or put them in a zipper plastic bag and crush them up with a rolling pin. Oh hey! You could take out your frustration over package sizes. Just saying.
Melt 6 Tablespoons of butter and stir into the crushed Oreos with a fork until all the crumbs are moistened. Press this mixture into a 13 X 9 inch metal pan. I always spray a little cooking spray into the bottom of the pan and then line it with parchment paper letting the paper hang over the ends of the pan just a bit. The spray helps the paper stick to the pan. Set this aside. Begin preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
With your mixer, cream the cream cheese and sour cream until nice and smooth.
Add the sugar and the dry funfetti cake mix. Beat this until smooth, making sure to scrape the sides as needed.
Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.
Mix in the vanilla and vanilla butter & nut (also called butternut) flavoring. I like the McCormick vanilla butter & nut the best of all that I have tried so far. It does add some yellow coloring to the mixture as well. So, if you don’t want for these bars to have the pale-yellow coloring you may want to use a clear or white butter & nut flavoring. Scrape the sides to make sure that all the flavors are incorporated.
Stir the sprinkles in by hand. Don’t go crazy mixing these in. The colors might begin to run if you stir too much.
Pour the cheesecake mixture over the prepared crust. Bake for 35 minutes or until the center is set. The timing of this can vary pretty widely depending on your oven. Don’t overbake these. They will continue to bake for a bit after you remove them from the oven and then will set up even more in the frig. However, you don’t want for the middle to be raw. It can be a little jiggly but not liquid. If a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a lot of cheesecake on it or if it seems more like pudding than cheesecake it needs to bake some more. Sprinkle on more jimmies if you wish. Let this cool on the counter for about an hour and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Carefully remove from the pan using the parchment handles.
Cut and serve. To make the squares really neat you can wet your knife slightly before slicing.
Be prepared to share this recipe. Everyone loves them!
The Best Funfetti Cheesecake Bars
These bars are so creamy and delicious with loads of sprinkles and cake batter flavor.
Ingredients
- 30 Golden Oreos (can be double stuff or regular)
- 6 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 32 oz. cream cheese (full-fat works best)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup Funfetti cake mix (dry)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons vanilla butter & nut flavoring or extract
- 1/2 cup sprinkles (jimmie type)
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 2 Grind or crush Oreos into coarse crumbs.
- Step 3 Melt butter and stir into Oreo crumbs with a fork until everything is moistened.
- Step 4 Press this mixture into a 13 X 9 inch metal pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Step 5 Cream the cream cheese and sour cream until nice and smooth.
- Step 6 Add the sugar and the dry funfetti cake mix. Beat this until smooth, making sure to scrape the sides as needed.
- Step 7 Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.
- Step 8 Mix in the vanilla and vanilla butter & nut (also called butternut) flavoring. Scrape the sides to make sure that all the flavors are incorporated.
- Step 9 Stir the sprinkles in by hand.
- Step 10 Pour the cheesecake mixture over the prepared crust.
- Step 11 Bake for 35 minutes or until the center is set.
- Step 12 Let this cool on the counter for about an hour and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Step 13 Carefully remove from the pan using the parchment for handles.
- Step 14 Cut and serve.
- Step 15 Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
