Nothing brings the images of summer to life more than lemonade.  Picture kids on the corner with their adorable lemonade stands or settling under the beach umbrella with a cool lemonade in your hand.  I wanted to capture that feeling in a delicious dessert and came up with these amazing strawberry lemonade cheesecake bars.  And by amazing, I mean the best cheesecake bars EVER!

I am a HUGE fan of cheesecake so I am always looking for new flavors to try and ways to serve it.  Cheesecake bars are the perfect dessert for summer because  you can just pick them…no utensils required.  In fact, you can skip plates and just got for napkins. These strawberry lemonade cheesecake bars won’t be around long enough for anyone to need to put it on a plate.

Now, I know some people get all worried about making cheesecake and think it is a lot of work.  This recipe is super simple and comes out great everytime.  Just be sure to line your pan really well with parchment paper {I use the parchment sheets} so you can easily pull the bars out of the pan to cut them.  Plus, I can promise that, when you make these strawberry lemonade cheesecake bars, you will have no problems getting  people to eat them.  You might even find you need to make two batches because everyone will want seconds.

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Strawberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars

Servings: 16

Author: Shannah @ Just Us Four

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cup animal crackers crushed into crumbs
• 9 Tbsp butter melted
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 16 oz cream cheese softened
• 1 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9 square dish with parchment paper.
2. Place strawberries in a small bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp sugar. Let sit while preparing other ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, combine animal crackers and melted butter. Stir well to ensure all the animal cracker crumbs are coated. Press mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
4. Beat cream cheese and remaining sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at the time, and mix well. Add sour cream, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix well. Pour over prepared crust.
5. Blend strawberries until smooth. Drop dollops of strawberry mixture on cream cheese mixture. using a knife, swirl the strawberries .
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or until set. Let cool. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

The key to making these look “pretty” is just the swirl with the knife. It looks way fancier than it really is.

Looking for other cheesecake ideas?  Try these delicious recipes: