I did a take on a recipe I found on Pinterest. The original recipe was for “St. Patrick’s Chocolate & Mint Cheesecake Bars”, but I had raspberry extract in my pantry (from a failed rock candy experiment long ago) so that recipe became this :]
Ingredients:
- 1 box of chocolate or devils food cake mix
- ½ cup or 1 stick of butter (softened)
- 3 packages of cream cheese (8oz a piece and softened)
- 1 can of cream cheese frosting (these usually are 16oz)
- 3 eggs
- food coloring (of your choice but I think it should match your flavoring, so I chose a few drops of pink and purple)
- 1 tablespoon of flavored extract (in my case, raspberry)
- 1 package dark chocolate chips (and if I could have found em, raspberry dark chocolate chips!)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix the cake mix and the butter, it will get crumbly. Set aside half of this mix and smush the remaining into the bottom of a baking dish about 9×13 with kinda high sides.
Once your oven is preheated, place this bottom layer in there for about 6 minutes. Take out and let cool.
Mix all the cream cheese and frosting together until smooth.
Slow down your mixer and add all 3 eggs separately (beating one in fully before the next).
Now put in your food coloring, remember a little goes a LONG way, so don’t get carried away
Once it’s the perfect color, add in the tablespoon of your extract. Just like the food coloring a little does a lot. So mix the tablespoon in completely, taste, and adjust if need be.
Pour this flavored cheesecake mixture over the chocolate crust that should be cooled nicely by now.
Use the rest of the cake butter mixture you set aside first and crumble it all on top of the cheesecake.
Now open your chocolate chips and sprinkle those over the top of that. The more you do, the harder it gets to cut…but I love dark chocolate chips so I used the whole bag and made a mess trying to make the bars look nice.
Bake for 40 minutes. (The cheesecake will expand during baking, don’t be alarmed, it may look like it is going to spill over the sides, but generally it will stay put and it will sink in slightly once cooled.)
Remove and cool completely before attempting any cutting.
The fridge for about an hour will get it pretty stiff and perfect for hacking into.
ENJOY!