Mocha Cheesecake Bars

Oh, boy these are good! And they come from Healthy Cooking, the "light" version of Taste of Home, so you can eat them guilt-free! (or have seconds, and thirds...) This is also one of the easiest cheesecake recipes but you will need to plan ahead a bit - it's best for cream cheese and sour cream to be at room temperature, and the coffee and chocolate need to be cooled before adding them to the cream cheese.

I think that anything that starts with an oreo crust is bound to be delicious. I used two rows of oreos for this recipe - which I think was probably more than the 25 cookies it called for - crush them up in your food processor, or with a rolling pin or whatever you have.



Add the chocolate syrup and the melted butter,



then pulse until it is blended. If you're not using a food processor, simply combine the crumbs with the syrup and butter and mix well. Pat the crust into a greased 9x13 pan;



cover and set in the freezer for 15-20 minutes while you assemble the filling.

Pour the coffee into a small saucepan, and sprinkle the gelatin over it.



Cook this over low heat, stirring constantly, until the gelatin is completely dissolved.



Set aside the coffee to cool. Melt the chocolate however you like best - I normally put it in a small glass bowl and microwave at about 50% power until it's soft until to stir. Set aside the chocolate to cool.

Combine the cream cheese and the sugar in a large mixing bowl.



Beat this until smooth. When beating cream cheese, it's really important to scrape down the sides of the bowl often, and scrape up the bottom - you don't want to find a layer of cream cheese there when you're done!



Beat in the sour cream,



and the chocolate



and the coffee.



Mix this until completely blended, then pour over the crust.



This can be garnished in a number of different ways - I always like to grate chocolate over the top of most anything, so that's what I did!



You can also garnish each piece with a chocolate covered coffee bean, which I did for the final photo op (at the top of this post.) Cover the cheesecake and refrigerate overnight to set completely.



Store the cheesecake in the refrigerator, if you have leftovers...

Find more ideas at Save Room for Dessert, What's Cooking Wednesday , the Ultimate Recipe Swap , Cooking Thursday, Foodie Friday, Friday Food, Food on Fridays, and Would You Like Chocolate with That?.

Mocha Cheesecake Bars

Crust:
25 cream filled chocolate cookies (like Oreos)
3 Tbsp. chocolate syrup
3 Tbsp. butter, melted

Filling:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup strong coffee
2 - 8 oz. packages reduced fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup (8 oz.) reduced fat sour cream
3 squares (1 oz. each) semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Garnish:
grated chocolate (from a 1 oz. square of semisweet chocolate)
chocolate covered coffee beans

Place cookies in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. Add the chocolate syrup and butter and pulse until combined. Press onto the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking dish/pan coated with nonstick spray. Freeze while you assemble filling to allow crust to set.

Pour coffee into a small saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 1 minute; then heat over low heat, stirring constantly until gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, chocolate and coffee until blended. Pour over crust. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Garnish with grated chocolate and/or chocolate covered coffee beans. Refrigerate leftovers. Serves 20.