Layers and layers of delicious here! These Tagalong cheesecake bars have a buttery shortbread crust, rich peanut butter cheesecake filling and a sweet chocolate ganache. You’ll love this indulgent take on the classic Girl Scout cookies!

stack of peanut butter cheesecake bars on a white speckled plate. this recipe

Welcome to the second installment of, “can I make a dessert out of a Girl Scout cookie?” And since these Thin Mint cupcakes turned out so well, I knew I was going to keep it moving. Stay tuned for the third and final episode, which will feature Samoas!

Crust

A Tagalong is a shortbread cookie with a thick layer of peanut butter on top, enrobed in a sweeter milk chocolate. So, it made choosing the crust material pretty easy. Shortbread cookies! The first few tests I did were with Lorna Doone cookies. They tasted fine, but they were a little more expensive. 7 bucks for one box didn’t sit well with me. Plus, you only use half the box.

After a little more tweaking, the winning recipe uses exactly one package of Keebler Sandies. Not only is it more cost effective, but the Sandies really tasted better. Just dump the entire 11.2 oz package into the food processor and be done. Yay!!

one peanut butter cheesecake bar on a white speckled plate with a bite taken out.

I didn’t want to overpower the buttery sweet flavor of the shortbread, so I only added an extra tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt to the crumbs before stirring in the melted butter.

Bake the crust at the same temperature the cheesecake will bake, 325 degrees. No changing the oven temp = no worries.

Cheesecake filling

One of my favorites that I’ve made! Rather than use granulated sugar, I added light brown sugar to the filling for a little extra something. The hint of molasses from the brown sugar bumps up the peanut butter flavor just like coffee does to chocolate. Not enough to taste like molasses cookies, but just a little extra pop.

I tried a few different peanut butters, and the one we loved the most was a no-stir store brand that was sweetened with honey. Using an all natural peanut butter resulted in a drier, less flavorful cheesecake. Plus, the tiny bits of peanut didn’t do anything for the texture.

one peanut butter cheesecake bar on a white speckled plate with a bite taken out, and two cookies stacked on top.

The good news is that you can totally get away with a generic, no frills peanut butter and have the BEST Tagalong cheesecake bars.

You’ll note that I don’t use a stand mixer and paddle for these cheesecake bars, I use a food processor and a blade. This method keeps any extra air out of the filling while still doing a really good job of mixing things together. It takes less than half the time a stand mixer would!

Plus, you only need to clean up one bowl and blade, since you use the food processor for the crust, too.

Chocolate ganache

The final layer of these bars was the chocolate. My knee jerk idea was to use my all purpose semi sweet bars, but then I took a closer look (okay, I ate some more cookies…) and decided that using a sweeter chocolate would be more true to a Tagalong.

one peanut butter cheesecake bar on a white speckled plate with a bite taken out.

I’ve used a 48% cacao German chocolate before, and forgot how yummy it actually is. And it was PERFECT for the topping on these Tagalong cheesecake bars. I used a 1:1 ratio of chopped chocolate to heavy cream for a thicker, spreadable ganache that sets up well without hardening completely.

All the layers came together better than I imagined they would, and I’m super excited to share the results!!

one peanut butter cheesecake bar on a white speckled plate with a bite taken out, and two cookies stacked on top.
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one peanut butter cheesecake bar on a white speckled plate with a bite taken out, and two cookies stacked on top.

Tagalong Cheesecake Bars

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  • Author: Megan
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Chilling Time: 8 hours
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 9 hours + 30 minutes
  • Yield: 16 squares 1x
  • Category: Dessert, Cake & Cheesecake
  • Method: Oven, Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

These Tagalong cheesecake bars have a buttery shortbread crust, rich peanut butter cheesecake filling and a sweet chocolate ganache. You’ll love this indulgent take on the classic Girl Scout cookies!

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the crust:

  • 11.2 oz package Keebler Sandies
  • 1 TB granulated sugar
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 4 TB unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake filling:

  • 24 oz full fat cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
  • 1 TB all purpose flour
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use all natural, choose something that says, “no stir”)
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature

For the chocolate ganache:

  • 12 oz sweet German’s chocolate (48% cacao) chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Instructions

To make the crust:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a 9 x 9 square baking pan with parchment paper, including the sides. Alternatively, grease the pan with butter or baking spray. Set the prepared pan aside.
  2. Add the entire package of Sandies to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you have finely ground crumbs. Add the crumbs to a medium mixing bowl and wipe out the food processor.
  3. Add the granulated sugar and salt to the cookie crumbs and stir to evenly combine. Pour in the melted butter and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
  4. Add the moist crumbs to the prepared 9 x 9 pan and evenly pack them onto the bottom of the pan. I like using the bottom of a measuring cup to do this.
  5. Bake the crust for 15 minutes at 325 degrees. Allow it to cool slightly while making the cheesecake filling.

Make the cheesecake filling and bake:

  1. Combine the cream cheese, sour cream and flour in the bowl of the food processor and use the standard blade to pulse a few times until the mixture is mostly smooth. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides.
  2. Add the peanut butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream. Pulse for a few more seconds until smooth and scrape down the sides of the bowl again.
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time, pulsing for a few seconds each. Scrape down the bowl between each egg.
  4. Pour the filling into the warm crust and smooth out the top. Bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes, or until the sides of the cheesecake are set and the center jiggles like a firm Jello.
  5. Remove the cheesecake bars from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before adding the ganache and chilling.

Make the ganache and chill the cheesecake:

  1. Add the chopped chocolate to a medium sized heatproof bowl and set aside. Add the cream to a small saucepan and scald over medium heat, until you see wisps of steam come off of the surface. Don’t let the cream boil.
  2. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and allow it to sit for about a minute, then stir until smooth and shiny. Spread the ganache over the room temperature cheesecake bars and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
  3. Store any leftover bars in the fridge for up to a week.

Equipment

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 bar
  • Calories: 495
  • Sugar: 25.5 g
  • Sodium: 248.2 mg
  • Fat: 38.8 g
  • Saturated Fat: 19.9 g
  • Trans Fat: 0.2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 31.4 g
  • Fiber: 2.4 g
  • Protein: 10 g
  • Cholesterol: 103.2 mg

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