Eggnog Cheesecake Bars

The holiday season is great for a lot of things... getting together with family and friends, eating, giving and receiving gifts, but more importantly (for my purposes here, anyways), trying new, festive recipes!

This year I needed a relatively simple dessert with a holiday flair but didn't want to make cookies for this particular get together. A Google search later and a few clicks around on the Martha Stewart site and whammo, eggnog cheese cake bars we on the menu.

Normally I'm not a huge fan of eggnog. I wouldn't want to try it homemade (raw egg... ew) and the store bought kinds are super sweet and cloying. If I mix in some brandy I can take the nog but if I have brandy, I'd be making Brandy Alexanders anyways. When I do drink eggnog, I drink the Silk brand, which is soy. It tastes SO good. All the egg-noggy goodness without that thick sweet coating in your mouth and that feeling like you've just poured motor oil down your throat. OK- maybe I'm exaggerating. Yeah, I'm definitely exaggerating. Still, the soy stuff is way good. Try it while it's still in season!

Check out Wikipedia for some theories on why they call it "eggnog". (*Spoiler* They don't really know why.)

I used the soy eggnog in this, but otherwise followed this recipe pretty much verbatim.


Ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray, for pan

12 graham crackers, finely ground (1 1/2 cups)

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

3/4 cup eggnog

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon brandy

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for dusting

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Crush up your grahams. I put them in a sealed sandwich bag and roll them with my rolling pin for some fast crushing action. You can use a food processor of course (I GOT ONE FOR X-MAS!) but that means more dishes. No thank you!

*I used to use my hands and punch the bag, but as fun as that was, it left my knuckles pretty sore. Using the rolling pin is a much better method.

Mix together your grahams, sugar and butter. Press down into a 9 x 9 baking pan (oops... I lied about the "followed it verbatim" part.... I used an 8 x 8 pan) and bake until just browned on the edges, 12-16 minutes. Let cool.

Time to make the delicious filling. Beat cream cheese on med-high until fluffy, for about 3 minutes.

Add sugar, eggs, yolk, eggnog, flour, vanilla, nutmeg and salt. (Phew.) Beat until smooth.

Pour the filling into the cooled crust, and place the tin in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with hot water until it comes about halfway up the baking pan. Carefully place in oven and cook at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until just set.

These bars are nice and creamy, so make sure not to overcook them, thinking they're under done.

Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Lightly sprinkle with nutmeg and serve.

Happy Holiday baking (and eating)!