Orange and vanilla? YES!

After the lemon lime bars I had a great idea. Great idea.

Orange and vanilla swirl cheesecake bars.

But then it took me until today to make them. I don't know why, but it did. And I'm kicking myself for not making them sooner.

Here is what you will need:

Crust:
8 graham crackers (each 2 1/2 by 5 inches)
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp orange zest

Filling:
2 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon orange zest
3.5 tablespoons fresh orange juice (from the orange)
Orange icing coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. Crimp it down over the sides.

In a food processor put the graham crackers, sugar and orange zest. Blend until all good and smooth, and then drizzle in the melted butter and just get it mixed till it is combined.

Pour the crumb mixture into the foil lined pan and smooth down with the back of a spoon. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Clean out the food processor and then add in cream cheese and blend until smooth.
Add sugar and eggs, and again blend until smooth.

Take about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the mixture out and place it in a separate bowl.

Then in the food processor add orange zest and orange juice; blend until smooth. It will look a little orange. But not enough for me. And this time to color the cheesecake I used gel icing coloring.

Greatest orange ever.

I could of tried dropping in yellow and red food coloring but that makes me a little nervous. Just give me orange color outright man. And this time I left the mixture in the food processor to mix the coloring. Worked better that way since it was gel. You can make it as orange as you want. I just stuck a toothpick in the gel (about half way) and pulled some out. Then swirled it in the filling a little bit and had the mixer do the rest. Worked very well.
Add as much orange coloring as you want till you get a color that you like.

Now take that 1/2-3/4 cup of plain cheesecake filling and add in 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste.

❤❤❤❤❤

You can certainly use vanilla extract if you want. I got the paste for Christmas from Morgan and it is like crack. I use it a lot. It leaves little vanilla bean flecks that you can see and it just looks great. Oh yeah, and tastes great.

I do have a few different kinds of vanilla btw...


It's a problem. Anyway... Mix it all well. It won't be pure white. But that is ok. Vanilla bean flecks add character. And character is good.

I swear. It's only a teaspoon.

Look at those flakes of goodness.

Pour about half of the orange mixture onto the crust. Carefully spread it out to the edges of the pan. Then drop 5 spoon fulls of the vanilla mixture onto the orange layer. Take a knife and run it through the vanilla mixture. Swirl the first layer, but don't over do it. The vanilla can easily disappear in the orange.

Layer 1

Pour the rest of the orange mixture on top of the first layer. Then drop the rest of the vanilla mixture onto the orange and swirl again.

Layer 2

Drops of goodness

Pretty swirls

Put the pan in the oven, and bake 30 to 35 minutes until set (filling should jiggle only slightly when pan is gently shaken).

Cool completely in pan. Cover very loosely with plastic wrap and place in the fridge at least 2 hours. Overnight is better. After it has fully set, lift up the bars via the aluminum foil.

All baked up.

Cut into 16 pieces and shove into your mouth.

Heaven

It tastes just like one of those dixie cups that you used to get as a kid with the orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream. IE, it is the greatest tasting cheesecake ever. But don't tell my lemon cheesecake bars that. They might be sad.