Easter Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Easter Lemon Cheesecake Bars are brimming with tangy lemon flavor, thanks to the lemon juice, zest and curd. Adorned with mini chocolate speckled eggs, these make a fun and delicious Easter treat.

If you’ve never made baked cheesecake before, these bars are a great place to start. Compared to a regular baked cheesecake, these cheesecake bars are low maintenance: they don’t require a water bath for baking or a springform pan.

Tips for recipe success:

• The easiest way to crush the graham cracker crumbs is in a food processor. But if you don’t have one, place the graham crackers in a sealed freezer bag (getting rid of any air) and gently bash with a rolling pin. If using this method, be sure to continue until you have fine crumbs, as you don’t want any chunks.
• If you don’t have graham crackers, a good substitute is Digestive biscuits.
• It’s very important to bake the graham cracker layer first for 5 minutes before adding the cream cheese mixture. This ensures a crispy bottom and no sogginess.
• Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature before beating. This will ensure your cheesecake is silky smooth and doesn’t have any lumps.
• Always use full-fat cream cheese! The light version won’t work here.
• Chilling is mandatory! At least for 4 hours or overnight before cutting into bars.

Avoid your cheesecake bars from collapsing:

A very important note to mention is to not overmix your cheesecake batter. If you beat it excessively, this will cause little air pockets to form and the cheesecake will puff up while in the oven. Once out of the oven it will deflate and collapse. Not what you want! So make sure to only mix as much as needed to thoroughly combine the ingredients.

How to make Easter Lemon Cheesecake Bars:

1. Make the crust. You’ll combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter, then press into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Allow to cool.
2. Now that the crust is pre-baked and cooling, start on the cheesecake filling. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until lump-free. Scrape down the sides of the bowl when needed, this will ensure the cheesecake is completely smooth.
3. The next step is to mix in the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Then beat in the eggs one at a time.
4. Pour the cheesecake filling on top of the pre-baked crust and bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are set and the middle is almost set. The cheesecake will firm up as it cools.
5. After cooling the bars completely in the pan, place them in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
6. Slice into bars, then place a dollop of lemon curd on each bar and decorate with mini chocolate eggs.

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Lemon Curd:

For this recipe, the cheesecake bars are topped with a dollop of lemon curd. This not only adds extra lemon flavour, but also aids in the mini chocolate eggs staying put on top. You can either make your own lemon curd or use a store-bought one. I didn’t have enough lemons on hand and they are really expensive at the moment as they’re not in season yet, so I went with a store-bought curd. If you’re in New Zealand, I recommend the Barkers brand.