Basque Cheesecake Bars Recipe (2024)

I grew up in the Spanish side of the Basque Country, where this recipe originated, and I remember eating graham crackers in my childhood. Plus having an open mind is quite helpful when adapting recipes.

Traditional Basque cheesecake is crustless (which suits me as I’m GF) but it makes sense to make this bar version with a crust for easy eating. I plan to make this using Tate’s GF Ginger Zinger cookies and simply sub white rice flour for the AP flour. Perfect to take for a pot-luck lunch with the garden club!

Out of curiosity, why did you consider this a helpful comment to make, especially given that the recipe introduction itself acknowledges that these are not a traditional Basque cheesecake?

There are several things one might substitute graham crackers for in the EU. Digestive biscuits are widely consumed in England, and are readily available in many places across Europe. In France they are called 'sablés anglais.' In Spain people substitute cookies called 'Marias' for graham cracker crusts - there are several readily-available brands in stores. I have spent quite a lot of time in the Pays Basque, and have had some of the most memorable meals of my life there.

Good luck finding graham crackers in the Pays-Basque.

To All Thumbs:There isn’t really a drop-in replacement for Philly. Recipes developed for it barely work with store brand clones let alone with different cheeses entirely. The gums are the entire point. You could start with two thirds Philly and one third quark, and replace half the heavy cream with quark as well, and there’s probably enough gum/emulsifier power to hold it all together. The results will likely taste delicious and probably have decent texture. Plan for adjustments/remakes.

I bake pizza on Reynolds parchment in a 500 degree oven regularly. It gets a bit brown, but I've never had a problem.

I use a cream cheese cake recipe that makes 2 cakes, one for us to eat, the other always goes in the freezer for next time and I frequently freeze cream cheese when it is on sale for use at a later date, it freezes very well...

I disagree with Ellen about freezing. Cheesecake generally freezes very well.

I think the flour is needed so that the bars hold their shape when they're cut.

I absolutely love the Barques Burnt cheesecake I have made previously. I have baked a full size one and quite a few 6 inch ones in an air fryer. This one was good but not my favorite. It sure did not look like the photo but everyone except me loved the crust. I like the crust less version but am addicted to any of these versions.

Would this work using a Pyrex baking dish?

Agree with a lot of other comments about the crust. I followed the recipe exactly and it came out burnt on the bottom. I'd bake it less the first time or freeze it before adding the batter. I'd also add the vanilla extract and flour separately as they clump together when added at the same time. Otherwise, it came out great!

Two modifications that I made, based on comments: 1) Didn't prebake the crust (to avoid burnt crust). Came out great. 2) Used sour cream instead of heavy cream (to avoid issues with the center not setting). Worked great. Does add some tang to the flavor, which I actually prefer in a cheesecake.

I didn’t have access to graham crackers so I used Biscoff and it was an excellent substitution. In fact, Im going to use Biscoff with future cheesecakes to see how it turns out.

Top did not brown except for sides.Crust was well done using 12 minutes plus baking time for cheesecake. Consider baking crust 8-10 min instead.Cheesecake was tasty.

The parchment paper burnt in the oven from the high heat. It crumbled when I tried to lift it out. I had to take some cardboard and flip the cake out of the pan instead. Also, I absolutely had to refrigerate it so the middle could settle some more. The cheesecake was way too soft to handle chilling it first. Regardless, it came out just like the picture and it was delicious. Will be making it again.

Reporting on a couple successful changes I made, for inspiration for others. 1) Subbed crushed almond cookies (amaretti from Italy that are very dry). 2) Subbed Gina Marie Fresh Farmer Cheese (half the fat of their cream cheese, but cultured with a lovely tang). 3) Added lemon zest to the batter. 4) Make sure every ingredient was room temperature, including the cream; 5) incorporate air in the batter, well-mixed wet ingredients; 6) place the pan on a high rack to prevent burnt bottom.

This is delicious! I would cook the crust a little bit less next time, but it was not quite burned. I sifted the flour, but there were still tiny lumps in the batter, so I also poured the batter through a sieve on its way to the pan.

Great recipe, but unless you’re hosting a dinner party for ten, this strikes me as an excessive amount to make. I halved the recipe and cooked it in an 8x8 pan, which worked perfectly with the exact same baking time.The texture was lovely after baking and cooling, ie at room temperature, almost as light as a soufflé, with a satisfying caramel skin to break through. However, it was much more similar to a NY cheesecake texture after 24 hours of being in the fridge.

After cooking this, my notes would be that the initial bake of the graham cracker crust is not needed. (It burned during the second bake with the filling.)Also, if you want these to actually be bars that you can hold in your hand, refrigerate these in the pan overnight (covered). The next day, they'll come out with the firmer consistency that you need for a proper bar.

I had the same issue with the vanilla clumping with the flour. Took a lot of time to work through it to get the clumps out. Next time I would mix these two ingredients in separately, and also sift the flour.

The vanilla seemed to clump with the flour and create small brown lumps. Maybe stir in the vanilla and then the flour?

I reduce the sugar content in every dessert recipe by at least 1/3, possibly why I had to leave my first attempt longer in the super hot oven -- yet still never achieved a uniformly brown top while sacrificing the correct jiggly, creamy center texture. I'll remake it this week, substituting jarred English lemon curd for the reduced sugar content, and improving the crust by adding fine crumbs of crushed roasted salted almonds.

Made this today and followed the recipe exactly. It was very dark and cracked around the edges at 28 minutes and smelled of caramelized sugar but the middle was just golden brown. I felt that if I left it in any longer, it would be over done. What did I do wrong? I used the middle rack in my oven- should it have been on a higher rack?