I followed the recipe that I found almost exactly, with the exception of the apple cider vinegar. I didn't have any on hand so I used rice vinegar instead. I was actually a little nervous about using any vinegar at all because I have never put vinegar in my cookie dough before, but the original poster stated that the vinegar makes the texture slightly crispier and also makes the cookie layer set faster so I decided I better put it in! It turned out great with the rice vinegar and I promise you can't taste it at all (I'm pretty much an expert cookie dough taster so I promise I would know if it tasted even the slightest bit weird)! I also doubled the recipe and put it in a 12x16 pan rather than a 9X13 and it worked great!
Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Cookie Layer:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 TBSP cider vinegar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Cheesecake Layer:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars. Add the vanilla, salt and vinegar and mix together. Beat in the egg, then the baking soda and flour. Stir in the chocolate chips.
In a different bowl, mix the cream cheese with the sugar until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
In a greased 9x13 pan, spread half of the cookie dough mixture across the bottom. (I just plopped the dough around the pan and then spread it all together.) Then, spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the cookie dough. With the remaining cookie dough, flatten chunks of dough between your hands into discs, and then place on top of the cream cheese mixture. (The cookie dough discs don't have to touch, but try to place them so that they cover as much of the cream cheese mixture as possible.)
Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is brown and cooked through. (I cooked mine for about 35 minutes and it was perfect.) Cool completely and store in the refrigerator. Grab a big glass of milk and dive in! Make sure to hide a plate in the fridge for yourself so that you can enjoy them for a couple of days after everyone else devours the rest of these!
Recipe linked to:
Mandy's Recipe Box // Skip to My Lou // Six Sisters Stuff // The Girl Creative // A Thrifty Mom
Funky Polka Dot Giraffe // Our Thrifty Ideas // SNAP the Conference // Creations by Kara
Southern Lovely // The Dedicated House // Love Bakes Good Cakes // The 36th Avenue // Delightful Order
