Week 8: Grasshopper Cheese Bars

Back on track again!  Well, this week's cheesecake baking started off with a hitch... it's been so hot and humid the last few days, our gas stove oven does not seem to like all the extra heat (rather ironic).  R.O. took apart the oven, did something magical, and got it up and running again.  The same thing happened a month ago when we had our last heat wave in the midwest. 
So this week I decided to make cheesecake bars with some of the excess ingredients leftover from the last few cheesecakes.  These bars turned out well, although not my favorite.  A nice finishing touch for these cheesecake bars would be whipped topping, as the book recommends.  I forgot to pick up heavy whipping cream on my last grocery run, and decided a separate grocery trip (in this heat) for just whipping cream really was not worth the effort. 

Here is the recipe for Grasshopper Cheese Bars (by George Geary):
2 1/4 cups Oreo crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted

3 packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp peppermint extract (I used a full tsp as I like the extra hint of peppermint)
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips melted and cooled

Whipped topping (for the topping)

In a medium sized bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter.  Press into the bottom of a greased 13x9 baking pan and freeze.  In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar on med-high speed for 3 minutes.  Next, add eggs, one at a time, beating each egg into the mixture before adding the next one.  Mix in the flour, sour cream, vanilla and peppermint.  Next, pour the melted chocolate in a steady stream while the mixture is still running.  Pour the batter into the pan and place in a 325 degree oven for 45-55 minutes (or until the edges are brown and middle has a slight jiggle).  Again, to point out, all ovens are different, and my cheesecake was done at 40 minutes.