Butterfinger Nutter Butter Cheesecake Bars

I don't know what exactly I was searching for when I found this recipe. I read it over and thought they looked pretty easy to make, so I'd try them.  Just when?  We were having a party and I like to have little desserts in case someone wants to snack before dessert is served, so these would serve the bill.

Some of the Ingredients: Photo by ALB

They were pretty easy make.

Ready to go in the oven: Photo by ALB

The result?  They were really good albeit a bit overly sweet (duh) so the fact they were cut in small pieces were good.  But they had a good peanut butter flavor with a tad of cheesecake.  And they were so easy, I would definitely make again.

Yum!  Photo by ALB

Butterfinger Nutter Butter Cheesecake Bars

Yield: 36 SMALL SQUARES (I got 25)
From Lauren's Latest

INGREDIENTS
For the crust
16 whole nutter butter cookies
1/4 cup melted butter

For the cheesecake filling
8 oz. cream cheese, softened (used 1/3 fat Cream Cheese)
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon all purpose flour
6 fun size Butterfinger chocolate bars

For the topping
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9x9 square dish with foil or parchment and set aside. {If you are lining your pan with foil, lightly grease with non stick cooking spray.} Grind nutter butter cookies in a food processor until the consistency of graham cracker crumbs. Pour in melted butter and pulse a few times to mix. Press into prepared dish and set aside.

In a large bowl, whip cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Stir in egg, vanilla and flour. Finely chop butterfingers and fold into the cheesecake mixture. Pour over top nutter butter crust and bake for 18-22 minutes or until cheesecake has set. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely chilled.

Pour chocolate chips and butter into a small bowl and microwave using the 'melt chocolate' function, stirring every 20-30 seconds. If your chocolate is almost melted, don't put it back into the microwave! Just keep stirring- the residual heat will continue to melt the chocolate completely. {If your microwave doesn't have this function, zap your chocolate at 50% power at 20 second intervals, stirring in between.} Spread melted chocolate overtop of the bars evenly and place back into the refrigerator 5-10 minutes to harden the chocolate. (I did 7). Remove from refrigerator and using the foil or parchment, remove the entire block of bars from the pan. Cut into bars and serve. (I actually cut the bars still on the parchment and then put them back in to the tray to serve later in the day.)

Recipes Notes: If you leave the bars in the refrigerator longer than 10 minutes after you've topped it with chocolate, cutting into the bars might be more difficult and the chocolate is more likely to crack.