Chocolate Chai Greek Yogurt Cheesecake Bars

Superbly swirled chocolate chai Greek yogurt cheesecake bars are the final word fall dessert. With about 20 minutes of hands-on time, they’re straightforward to make, too.

With a crunchy chocolate graham cracker crust, easy cheesecake filling, and deeply spiced chocolate chai swirl, there’s a lot to like about these cheesecake bars.

Whereas they could look fancy, that is such a easy dessert recipe. We make the most of the meals processor for each the crust and the cheesecake filling – we examined this recipe with out it, however for the creamiest cheesecake bars, a meals processor (or high-speed blender) actually is critical.

Whereas the crust bakes within the oven, whip up the creamy filling, set some apart to show right into a chocolate chai model, swirl the 2 collectively, and bake. The flavors mingle whereas the bars chill, and we love them straight from the fridge! These cheesecake bars are straightforward to whip up for a mid-week deal with but spectacular for any vacation celebration (a enjoyable pie various for Thanksgiving!).

What You Want for these Greek Yogurt Cheesecake Bars

There are 3 elements to those creamy cheesecake bars. Right here’s what you want for every:

Graham Cracker Crust

The bottom of those cheesecake bars is a chocolate graham cracker crust made with graham crackers, butter, and cocoa powder. Once we examined this recipe, including somewhat little bit of cocoa powder actually introduced out the chocolate chai taste of the cheesecake swirl.

Cheesecake Base

The bottom of those swirled cheesecake bars comes along with cream cheese (be sure you are utilizing the block-style cream cheese), plain Greek yogurt (as an alternative of bitter cream), pure maple syrup for somewhat sweetness, an egg white to assist every little thing bind collectively, and a splash of vanilla for taste.

Chocolate Chai Swirl

We’ll reserve somewhat little bit of the cheesecake base to combine along with melted chocolate chips, coconut oil, and chai spices. That is layered on high of the cheesecake base to create the beautiful swirl!

Before and after photos of the chocolate graham cracker crust.

Substitutions for Cheesecake Bars

There are a couple of straightforward methods to customise these Greek yogurt cheesecake bars:

Crust: As a substitute of a conventional chocolate graham cracker crust, merely omit the cocoa powder or make these cheesecake bars with a gingersnap cookie crust or a shortbread crust. For a gingersnap cookie crust (most fall taste!!), observe the crust directions in our pumpkin cheesecake bars recipe. For a shortbread crust, observe the crust directions in our apple pie bars recipe.

Spices: Use any or the entire spices we embody within the recipe (or use 1 teaspoon of our chai spice combine as an alternative). Don’t like ginger? Depart it out! Love cinnamon? Add much more! Omit the spices utterly for chocolate swirled cheesecake bars.

Pumpkin Spice: Change the entire spices on this recipe with 1 teaspoon of our home made pumpkin pie spice for chocolate pumpkin spice Greek yogurt cheesecake bars.

Two photos of how to make a swirl on top of cheesecake bars.

swirling cheesecake bars

Creating a beautiful swirl on high of cheesecake bars (or any cheesecake!) is less complicated than you suppose. Listed below are a couple of ideas:

You want two colours of cheesecake combination for a easy swirl design. Put aside 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the white cheesecake combination and set it apart. Differentiate this reserved combination by including melted chocolate, spices, and so forth. to it earlier than swirling it into the plain combination.
Create a checkerboard with the darker cheesecake combination and use a toothpick to swirl the colours collectively.
Have enjoyable with it! If it’s not excellent, don’t fear – it can nonetheless style nice.

Chocolate chai cheesecake bars before they are baked.

FAQ

Do cheesecake bars have to be refrigerated?

Sure, cheesecake bars have to be refrigerated. This helps them arrange so that they slice into neat squares and retains them recent.

How lengthy do you have to wait to chop cheesecake bars?

For neat squares, wait till the bars are utterly chilled by. This normally takes about an hour of cool time at room temperature and one other 2 hours within the fridge. In case you use a steel pan, you possibly can pace issues up by putting the pan of bars within the fridge 20 minutes after taking them out of the oven. In case you used a glass or ceramic pan, let the bars cool utterly at room temperature earlier than refrigerating to keep away from the pan breaking from the temperature change.

Storage

Cheesecake bars have to sit back earlier than serving anyhow, so do your self a favor and make these bars forward of when you have to serve them. After cooling utterly, tightly cowl the pan of bars with plastic wrap and refrigerate for as much as 2 days earlier than slicing and serving. In case you have any leftover cheesecake bars, retailer in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 5 days.

Freezing Cheesecake Bars

These swirled cheesecake bars freeze splendidly. As soon as absolutely cooled, minimize the pan of cheesecake bars into squares, place in a single layer on a baking sheet, and freeze till absolutely frozen. Take away the bars from the freezer, wrap individually in aluminum foil or plastic wrap to forestall freezer burn, and place into freezer-safe container. Freeze for as much as 3 months.

A chocolate chai cheesecake bar on a plate.

Serving Recommendations

Scrumptious as a day snack or for dessert, serve these chocolate chai Greek yogurt cheesecake bars straight from the fridge as-is, or for somewhat one thing further, high them with a dollop of whipped cream, drizzle of chocolate sauce, sprinkle of sea salt or chai spices, or chocolate shavings.