Strawberries. Lime. Tequila. Cheesecake. Perfect!

Cinco De Mayo is almost upon us and what better way to enjoy your celebratory margarita than in cheesecake form! I’m a huge fan of tequila, put it in a cocktail and I’ll be sure to love it, nothing beats a good frozen margarita though. Good margaritas are hard to find in the UK so I decided to make my own and put it in a cheesecake!

These are so creamy, so tasty and so good you’ll never want to drink a margarita again (but you definitely should, preferably while eating one of these bars!). They have a digestive biscuit crust with a hint of lime in it, a creamy lime and tequila cheesecake filling and a strawberry tequila mix swirled into it!

The best part about this strawberry margarita cheesecake bars recipe is they’re so simple to make, much easier than a whole cheesecake and you don’t have to worry about any cracking. The hardest part is probably making up the fresh strawberry mix, which is really quite simple it just takes the longest. You bake them for about 45 minutes until puffy and lightly browned at the edges, you don’t want to over bake this! Actually, the hardest part is probably waiting for them to chill and then stopping yourself eating up the whole pan (I won’t judge you if you do, ’tis the season!).

Why not make up a batch of these this weekend and then take them into work on Monday. Your coworkers will love you and you’ll get to enjoy a cheeky margarita during the work day! Of course, if you live in the UK you’ll just have to eat them all up yourself (shame) since Monday is a bank holiday! These aren’t just great for Cinco De Mayo, they’re a great summery dessert all round!

[recipe title=”Strawberry Margarita Cheesecake Bars”]
Ingredients

For the crust:

• 300g digestive biscuits
• 180g unsalted butter, melted
• 135g caster sugar
• 1/2 tbsp grated lime zest

For the strawberry mix:

• 450g fresh strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp tequila

For the cheesecake filling:

• 900g full fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp tequila
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp grated lime zest

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a 13×9″ brownie pan with foil so there’s plenty of foil overhang.
• Make the strawberry mix first so it has plenty of time to cool. Toss the chopped strawberries in the cornflour and then place in a small saucepan. Add the tequila and sugar and heat on medium, stirring frequently. Heat for about 20 minutes. The juice in the strawberries should make enough liquid, but if it starts to get dry and stick to the pan too much add 1 or 2 tbsp of water. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
• To make the crust, put the digestives in a food processor and make into fine crumbs. Add to a bowl with the melted butter, sugar and lime zest and stir to combine. Press crust mix into the pan, bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
• To make the cheesecake filling, beat all the filling ingredients using a hand or stand mixer until smooth and creamy. Spoon the filling onto the cooled crust and spread out evenly.
• Spoon big dollops of the cooled strawberry mix on top of the filling and then swirl into the cheesecake using a knife.
• Bake for 45 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned
• Cool in the pan on wire rack for about 30 minutes then move to the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours.
• Remove the cheesecake from the pan using the foil and cut into squares.

Notes

• If you’re in the US and can’t get your hands on digestives, graham crackers will be just as good
• If you’d like to make a smaller pan, just halve the recipe and use a 9×9″ square pan
• You’ll probably have plenty of strawberry mix left over, store this in a tupperware to eat with the cheesecake or it’d be great on ice cream!
• Store in the fridge, covered for up to 5 days

[/recipe]