Spiced Peach Butter Cheesecake Bars

As I mention in the previous post, I did not want to open one of my cute little decorated spiced peach butter jars, but I did.  Then I had to ask myself what to do with the rest? 

Trust me, the peach butter itself would have been fabulous on a home made biscuit, or slathered on a fresh scone, or even smeared on a fresh out-of-the-oven muffin.  All of those things sound wonderful, wonderfully fattening that is. 

Let me let you in on a little secret that I shall only repeat once here.  1) I am a long long time diabetic and 2) because of that, I rarely partake in the treats I feature on this blog (or bake in general).  Therefore, I have become the queen of giving my delectable baked goods away.

If you have never considered the prospects of just giving your treats away, let me share with you some of the benefits.  I have made new friends this way-- Hello former law school classmates.  I have buttered up to former employers this way-- Hello law firm, that shall remain nameless, that I use to work at.  Finally, I have shown a lot of people just how much I care for them and about them with the sweets I make-- Shot out to all those special people I have made something for just because it was your favorite.

So, back to the spiced peach butter cheesecake bars.  A dear friend of my mother was having a small church conference and I volunteered weeks in advance to make some cake.  After opening the peach butter, I thought it would be nice to share with her and her church family not only the treat, but the peach butter made from scratch.

These came out super yummily (yes, that is a word) and are super easy to make.  I suggest decreasing the amount of sugar in the cheesecake filling part, depending on your taste, because the peach butter may be sweet. I cut an 8x8 pan into sixteen small squares.  I found the small piece to be just enough because it was so rich.

I hope you make these or any other treat for someone special or even someone not so special to you, yet.  But most importantly, just remember to share; no need to ingest all this sugar yourself!

Spiced Peach Butter Cheesecake Bars

By Baker at Law (Forgotten to mention I wrote this recipe myself.)

Ingredients

Crust:
1 1/2 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
4 TBS (1/2 Stick) Butter
2 TBS Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Allspice

Filling:
2-8oz Cream Cheese
2 Large Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup Sugar (1/2 cup if you do not like things too sweet)
1 TBS Flour
2 tsp Lemon Juice
6oz Peach Butter (to taste)

Method

For Crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare an 8inx8in square pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, melt butter.
4. Mix in the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and spices into the butter. Mix thoroughly.
5. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of the pan.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.

Filling:
1. Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature; this is very important to a smooth and creamy texture. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Beat cream cheese until smooth.
3. Beat in sugar, flour, vanilla, and lemon juice into cream cheese.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time into the cream cheese mixture.
5. Pour all, except 1/4 cup, of filling over crust.
6. Mix peach butter into filling left out.
7. Either spoon drops or pipe lines of the peach butter mixture on top of the filling. Do not completely cover the other filling.
8. Using a tooth pick swirl the two mixtures together creating a marble effect.
9. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes. The filling should puff up and the center should be just set.
10. Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.
11. Bars are most easily cut when cold out of the fridge with a clean knife.