Indecisive people, this one’s for you. These strawberry cheesecake crumble bars are the best of both worlds: a thick shortbread base topped with creamy vanilla cheesecake, fresh strawberries and finished with crunchy sweet streusel.

Strawberry Cheesecake Crumble Bars

These bar are honestly the best snack for the warm months, when taken out of the fridge, the fresh strawberries and cheesecake filling make them so refreshing and delicious, you will not be able to have enough of them! One of the reasons why I love these bars is not only because they are easy to make, it’s because they combine two of my favourite things, shortbread and cheesecake, I am a simple human, what can I say!

This is all you’ll need

To make these crumble bars, you’ll need a thick and buttery shortbread base, a super creamy layer of vanilla cheesecake, juicy fresh strawberries and a crunchy layer of streusel, nothing too fancy or complicated. Here’s your shopping list:

• Butter
• All purpose flour
• Salt
• Cream cheese
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Greek yoghurt
• Vanilla extract
• Fresh strawberries

Strawberry Cheesecake Crumble Bars

Ingredients:

For the shortbread base:

• 225 gr of plain flour 
• 150 gr of cold salted butter 
• 75 gr of caster sugar

For the cheesecake filling:

• 450 gr of cream cheese at room temperature
• 60 gr of greek yoghurt
• 80 gr of granulated sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 300 gr of strawberries cut into 4 wedges

For the streusel:

• 90 gr of cold butter
• 4 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 100 gr flour
• A pinch salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius. Line an 8×8 inch square baking tray with parchment paper. 
2. Make the streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients using your hands or a fork and create clumps. Put the mix in the fridge until you need it. This will guarantee that your streusel doesn’t melt in the oven.
3. Make the shortbread base. In a bowl, mix the flour, cold butter and caster sugar until fully combined, the best way to do this is either with your hands or in a food processor. Once it’s mixed, it should have a grainy texture that sticks together when pressed. Firmly press the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly golden on the edges. 
4. While the shortbread cooks, make the cheesecake filling. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese and sugar until creamy and smooth, this should be very easy to mix if your cream cheese is at room temperature. Add in the eggs, one at a time mixing well after each addition. Add in the vanilla extract and greek yoghurt and mix again until combined. Lastly, sieve in the flour, this will avoid lumps and overmixing, mix until just combined. Set aside.
5. Cut your strawberries into 4 wedges, if they are small, you can cut them in half.
6. Once the shortbread is ready, take it out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes, leave the oven on while this happens. After 5 minutes, pour the cheesecake mix over the shortbread and smooth it out into an even layer. Top evenly with the strawberries and finally, top with the streusel.
7. Bake the cheesecake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden and the middle of the cheesecake is still slightly wiggly but the edges are set.
8. Allow the bars to cool down completely at room temperature and then store in the fridge for at least 2 hours, the more they chill in the fridge the more the flavours will set.