Eggnog Cheesecake Bars

I did a poll on instagram stories asking if you guys wanted snickerdoodle cookies or eggnog cheesecake bars and since 64% of you wanted snickerdoodles, I shared that recipe last week. But I felt guilty about the 36% that wanted the cheesecake bars so I decided that even though it’s Christmas today and only 4 people will be looking at the website, I still wanted to make this recipe happen. So to all 4 people out there – thanks for tuning in to PaleOMG today. You’re a lovely soul.

Just a few things about this recipe –

1. This recipe is made with almond milk cream cheese. I haven’t tried it with other dairy-free cream cheeses and I haven’t heard great things about those products, so I would stick with how the recipe is made. OR if you don’t mind the recipe being dairy-free, you can totally make this with normal organic grass-fed cream cheese.
2. I used normal dairy eggnog because it’s the holidays and I don’t personally have a huge issue with dairy. I normally stay away from most dairy products throughout the year, but when it’s the holidays, it’s ON! I’m going to drink as much eggnog as possible, including in this dessert. But you can totally make your own dairy-free eggnog or purchase your own dairy-free eggnog at the store, instead!
3. That’s really it. Just please don’t be the person who leaves a comment complaining that this isn’t paleo since it has sugar and dairy in it. I agree with you, for damn sure. But I like to have better options for desserts around the holidays and this type of dessert won’t make me feel like complete sh*t like other holiday desserts will. If you want a strict paleo recipe, I have about 1000 to choose from on my blog. No need to complain. It’s Christmas.

This Christmas season has been surprisingly lovely. I’m not a huge fan of the holidays because it normally stresses me out. There is the pressure of buying the perfect gifts for everyone, all the naughty food around every corner, terrible traffic, and people EVERYWHERE. It use to give me so much anxiety, but I think since I’m so grateful to have Jackson in our lives still after his health scare, I haven’t really thought much about the holidays other than getting the chance to be around the people I love the most. This year I have just embraced the holidays instead. And I’ve loved it!

This year has been all about new traditions. My husbands family came into town and we went all over Denver. We went to a holiday pop-up bar where I drank eggnog that tasted like I was drinking brown butter, we went to the WORST Christmas comedy show of all time (some traditions don’t need to continue), we went axe throwing, then we played wiffle ball in the park on Christmas Eve day since it was 60 degrees. We also ate 53 pounds of cake and pizza. It was pretty much the best holiday ever.

And luckily we don’t really do gifts in our house. Because I would be SO stressed out if we did. We do one white elephant gift exchange with a $50 limit. And this year I got the best gift EVER! I got a wine glass that says, “sort of an oaky afterbirth” which is a line from The Office. One of the best lines ever. And my husband does a huge gift exchange with his buddies and he got a frenchie portable speaker. So we pretty much got everything we need this year.

Well, I think I’ve talked enough. Don’t forget to enjoy the last few days of the holidays! They only come around once a year and you deserve to enjoy every bite of them! I still have some of the bars left in the fridge…I’m going in.

Eggnog Cheesecake Bars

• Author: juli
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 8-9 hours
• Yield: 16 bars 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the crust

• 1 package of Simple Mills Crunchy Pecan Cookies
• 3 tablespoons ghee

For the cheesecake

• 16 ounces almond milk cream cheese*, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup maple sugar
• 1/4 cup eggnog**
• 1 tablespoon rum or rum extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 2 eggs

For the glaze

• 1 cup organic powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons eggnog**
• 1 teaspoon rum or rum extract

For the garnishes

• frozen cranberries, defrosted and tossed in maple sugar
• fresh rosemary sprigs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8×8 glass baking dish with parchment paper and spray with coconut oil spray.
2. Add cookies to a food processor and pulse to break down. Then add ghee and pulse to combined until a crumbly mixture is created. Place crumbled mixture in the baking dish and press down until evenly throughout the entire dish.
3. Add softened cream cheese to a bowl and use a hand mixer to beat the cream cheese until smooth. Then add maple sugar, eggnog, rum, vanilla extract, and nutmeg, and beat for 1 minute. Lastly, add each egg one at a time, scraping down the sides and beating for one last minute.
4. Pour cheesecake mixture over crust and smooth throughout. Place in oven to bake for 45 minutes until the edges have slightly browned and middle of cheesecake is only slightly jiggly. Then turn off the oven, crack the oven door open, and let the cheesecake rest for 1 hour in the oven. After an hour, remove cheesecake from oven and let cool completely. Then cover and place in the fridge overnight.
5. Before slicing cheesecake into 16 bars and serving, make glaze. In a bowl, whisk together ingredients for the glaze until smooth. Top bars with as much glaze as you prefer and top with garnishes before serving!

Notes

*I used Kite Hill almond milk cream cheese

**I used dairy eggnog because holidays (duh), but you can make your own or use a dairy-free version instead to make it completely dairy free

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More Cheesecake Bars!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

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