These Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars have a flourless peanut butter cookie base, with a creamy cheesecake loaded with tonnes of peanut butter, and topped with a rich and silky chocolate ganache. These cheesecake bars are so easy to make, and naturally gluten free so no fancy, expensive ingredients are needed! They’re a must try!
As a food blogger, I’m constantly trying to think of new recipe ideas to test out, flavour combinations to try and technical bakes to master. I have a long list of ideas on the notes on my phone, which range from fully formed ideas to just two ingredients/flavours I want to try putting together, to everything in between. This long list is probably a pretty good look into how my brain works, but I like to keep it secret, for no real reason, I just do!
As you can imagine, this list never seems to get any shorter, even when ticking off ideas I have tried (whether they end up being successes or failures). Part of the reason for that is because I have a million ideas swirling around my head and only so much time to try them out, and the other part of the reason is things like these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars!
This idea never made it to my list. I was just sitting at home and suddenly had the urge to make Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars, naturally! The idea was already fully formed in my head too, it would have a baked, flourless peanut butter cookies base, creamy peanut butter cheesecake and a silky layer of rich chocolate ganache. It was like fate! I went out and grabbed the ingredients and got baking.
Love all things Peanut? Check out these Snickers Cookies!
It was actually a pretty easy recipe to develop, since I used my Snickers Cookies base for the cookie base, I wasn’t 100% this would work as a baked cheesecake base but luckily it was perfect, it turns into a dense, chewy, totally peanut buttery thick base! Not your traditional cheesecake crust, but it totally works! And I have a delicious, needs no changes cheesecake recipe that is so easy to change to whatever flavour your heart desires! So it was just a matter of deciding how much peanut butter should go in the cheesecake, in the end I went with a truck load! There’s so much peanut buttery goodness in these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars, it really is a peanut butter lovers heaven! How many times can I say “peanut butter” in one sentence?!
More Gluten Free baking – Cookie Dough Salted Caramel Brownie Bombs!
The other important part about these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars is, well, the gluten free part! As you may remember from a few posts ago, I’ve been experimenting with gluten free baking, it’s been a very long, and hard project but I’m starting to get the hang of it. It turns out that gluten isn’t the main problem, if I am gluten intolerant it is only minor (my problem may, in fact, be dairy, but I’m not ready to admit that yet!). However, I am still going to try and limit the amount of gluten I have as it did help a little and I also want to carry on with the gluten free baking adventure. So you may see a mix of gluten and non-gluten desserts in the coming months – it’s good to keep things mixed up right?!
Anyway, with all the frustrations of learning to bake gluten free, these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars were a refreshing break. This is because they are naturally gluten free, no figuring out how to work with flour blends and substitutes to get the right texture and flavour. These babies contain no gluten in their original form, you can’t beat that! My cheesecake mix contains no gluten ingredients, chocolate ganache contains no gluten ingredients (make sure you check you chocolate labels though, make sure they haven’t sneaked any of that in!) and my peanut butter cookie recipe is flourless, and therefore contains no gluten ingredients! Perfect!
The immense peanut butter flavour throughout and the naturally gluten free ease aren’t the only things that are gonna make these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars rock your world – they’re sooooo easy to make too! I find bars to be a little more forgiving than proper cheesecakes, I’m not sure why. I do still use my regular cheesecake tricks to stop it cracking, which I will include in the recipe. But the great thing about cheesecakes that have a topping is it’s not the end of the world if it does end up cracking in the oven/during cooling, because you’re gonna over that shiz up anyway! So really, the only downside to these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars is waiting for them to bake and cool so you can dig in! But, good things come to those who wait, right?
We better get on with the recipe, so we can all have these peanut buttery bites of heaven in our mouths ASAP!
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 13
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars - flourless peanut butter cookie base, with creamy cheesecake loaded with peanut butter, topped with silky chocolate ganache. So easy, delicious and naturally gluten free
Ingredients
For the peanut butter cookie base:
- 230g (1 cup) creamy/smooth peanut butter
- 100g (1/2 cup) white sugar
- 100g (1/2 packed cup) brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the cheesecake:
- 450g (16oz) full fat cream cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 100g (1/2 cup) white sugar
- 120ml (1/2 cup) greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 350g (1.5 cups) creamy/smooth peanut butter
For the chocolate ganache:
- 240ml (1 cup) double/heavy cream
- 250g (9 oz) dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the cookie base:
- Preheat the oven to 160C/325F. Line an 8" x 10" brownie pan with parchment paper.
- Add all the cookie ingredients to a bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until smooth and combined. Spoon into your lined pan and press down into an even layer.
- Bake for 15-20 mins, until the top is starting to turn golden brown and is set. Leave to cool before adding cheesecake batter.
For the cheesecake:
- Put the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl and beat together until combined, I use a hand held electric mixer for the cheesecake stage. You can use a stand mixer or a wooden spoon/rubber spatula if you prefer.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, until combined. Once the eggs have been added, you want to limit the amount of air you beat into the batter to avoid cracking while it bakes, so from now only beat until everything is just combined.
- Beat in the greek yogurt and vanilla.
- Beat in the peanut butter until combined, I switch to a rubber spatula at this stage to avoid over mixing.
- Pour the batter on the cooled cookie base. Place a large roasting or brownie tin with about 3 inches of boiled water onto the bottom shelf of the oven. This creates steam and helps your cheesecake bake more evenly and not crack.
- Bake for 45 mins, until the edges have set and the centre looks a little wet still (it will continue to set and bake as it cools in the pan).
- Remove from the oven and cool for an hour on a wire rack. Then put it in the fridge to chill for about 4 hours.
To make the ganache:
- Heat cream until it just starts to bubble, I do this in a small saucepan on the stove, but you can also do it in the microwave (heat in 30 second intervals)
- Put the finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl, and pour the hot cream over the top. Leave to sit for 60 seconds, then stir until all chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth.
- Pour the ganache on top of the cooled cheesecake.
- Pop back in the fridge for 1-2 hours until the ganache is set
- Cut into squares and serve.
Notes
Keep tightly covered in fridge for up to 3 days
What’s your favourite cheesecake flavour?
I’m glad I’m not the only one with a baking list thousands of miles long. Like you, time never seems to be on my side and some unexpected roadblock always is thrown my way. Or, I get the impromptu itch to whip up something that wasn’t even on my list. But sometimes these are the best recipes. I mean. . .look at these beauties. . .they are proof to that. Loving that this is essentially 3 glorious desserts wrapped up into one.
Haha the curse of the ever growing lists! You’re definitely right, sometimes the distractions turn out to be pretty awesome! Thanks Lynn xxx
The lists always grow longer but somehow I can never make as many as I keep adding to said list. My future mother-in-law eats mostly GF and I feel like she’s going to love the looks of these!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has that problem haha! I’m sure she would love these 🙂
I can totally relate to constantly having recipe ideas swirling around my head. These cheesecake bars look amazing and you can never go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter!
Thank you Ashlyn! We just have too many ideas clearly haha!
Hi! I was wondering what i can use as a substitute
for the egg?
Hey! I’m afraid I don’t have much experience with baking with egg substitutes, so I’m not sure what would work best in this recipe. I would be inclined to just use 1 tbsp of cornflour in place of the egg and add an extra 2 tbsp or so of greek yogurt, but I have to stress I have never tried this so I have no idea how it would turn out, that would just be my first try if I were to test eggless in this recipe. This article might help you too http://www.thekitchn.com/5-vegan-substitutes-for-eggs-in-baking-tips-from-the-kitchn-136591
Brilliant. I love it when the baking urge is too strong to ignore. But Michelle, you didn’t just go and knock up a quick round of shortbread, you knocked out a masterpiece. And gluten free. Genius.
With a truckload of PB – I like it.
Good luck on attempting dairy free when you get around to it. I went dairy free a long time ago to try and kick a health issue out of the window. I was 6 months in and doing well, but not seeing health improvements. Then i went to a party, got stuck on a table with people who would not speak more than 2 words to me during the entire sit-down dinner so I drank too much wine, ended up drunk and unwisely decided to re-introduce dairy that night when dessert came. My face went purple. The rest of my family (sitting with more sociable people) found it very amusing. I turned to baileys…. Hope dairy free sorts out your trouble, but if not, remember purple faces when you start to reintroduce it… behind closed doors… on your own.
“Truckload” is an official PB measurement haha! Thank you Jane!
And thank you for that story, it’s given me a much needed laugh this afternoon hahah! Not that I enjoy laughing at your pain…. 😉 I will keep that in mind though!
These look sort of like Nanaimo bars! They look delicious. I love pb and cheesecake together. So good!
I’ve not heard of those!
Thank you 😀
These cookies look absolutely amazing! Your photos are just mesmerizing too!
Thank you Julie <3
Since I was a tiny girl, my favorite sweet combination was peanut butter and chocolate! Oh my! These look too-good-to-be-true. Sometimes I need to dispense with my crazy self-discipline and indulge… Fantastic Michelle!
It’s a classic combo, I don’t use it often enough!
I think we should all allow ourselves to indulge occasionally, but perhaps I shouldn’t allow myself to do it as often as I do haha!
Thank you Tamara <3
I love this!! I used to eat the store bought cheesecake bites when I was a student and this reminds me of them (in shape only), but these are like a 100 times better!! I cannot wait to try them!
Thank you Dini! You’ll totally love these, I’m sure!
woow Michelle…These bars are looking so beautiful…am glad i came across your blog….u have a wonderful collection of recipes…
Aww thank you so much Arshu!
Wow that looks fabulous and rich, perfect for the autumn season.
Thank you!
I can’t even tell you how much I wish I had a plate of these sitting in front of me right now! Peanut butter and chocolate are my favorite! (I mean, who’s favorite aren’t they?). These look amazing, and so glad you were able to have a gluten free success!
Thank you Meghan! PB and chocolate is just a classic combo, you can’t beat it!
the texture on these look amazing! So many things I see that are GF look flat and heavy. I can’t wait to try your recipe for my sister who is dealing with some gluten issues!
Yeah, texture is the hardest thing to get right with GF! Luckily these are perfect! Hope your sister likes them!
Loving these! I keep lists of things that I want to try and then get side-tracked by new ideas that pop in my head while I am doing everything else! I have lots of lists lying around:) I can’t wait to make a pan of these and parade them in front of my GF friends and then not share. But then I have to make another pan the next day and hand them over…
Thanks Jen! I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets side tracked!
Hahaha I like your style, as long as share eventually…maybe!
Each layer of these beauties is a crowd pleaser for sure!
Looking forward to trying this recipe! ?
I’m glad it just naturally came to you!
Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday!
Michelle
Thank you Michelle!
Everything you make is amazing! I’m always in awe ? Thank you for sharing these with everyone at Fiesta Friday xx
Aww thank you Elaine!
This looks great! Happy Fiesta 😀
Thank you Sarah!
I think its compulsory for all food bloggers to have a huge ‘to bake’ or ‘to cook’ list isn’t it? I love the sheen of chocolate on these bars – too tempting! Thanks again for joining in with #bakeoftheweek
Haha I don’t think we can help it, it’s in our genetic code!! It’s better than having no ideas at all at least!
Thank you!
Pinning! May have to make these for my step-son for his upcoming birthday. Thanks for sharing at FF!
Thank you Debbie! Hope your Step-son likes them!