Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prep your 9×13 pan. I like to line the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil to make cutting and cleanup much easier, but this is optional as it doesn’t affect your bars bake at all. Spray the pan and liner with non-stick cooking spray.

Make the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until it is smooth and creamy.
2. Add in eggs, kosher salt, baking soda and flour. Mix well, making sure to scrape the bowl clean.
3. Using a spatula, add in the chocolate chips and mix until fully combined.
4. Press a little more than half of the dough into an even layer at the bottom of the pan. It will be a very thin layer; if needed, you can pull more dough from the second portion. Set aside.

Make the Cheesecake Filling

1. With your mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. You want to make sure there are no clumps. This took me about a minute on medium speed.
2. Add in the sugar until incorporated.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.
4. Spread the cheesecake filling into an even layer on top of the first layer of cookie dough.
5. Drop the remaining of cookie dough on the top of the cheesecake filling in small teaspoon-sized balls. There will be gaps but the cookie dough will spread and cover the top of the cream cheese as it bakes.
6. Bake the bars for 25-30 minutes until the center is just set.
7. Allow the bars to completely cool before removing bars from pan and cutting. You may want to place the pan in the refrigerator to firm it up quicker.