Mocha Swirl Bars

Sometimes you want a little hint of coffee without making a whole cup or pot. That’s where these come in! They look complicated, but they’re definitely not.

Plus, you can use whatever kind of coffee you like. A nice dark roast, a flavored coffee, cappuccino…whatever floats your coffee boat!

Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

3 cups of chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (I used Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, and it took a whole box)
½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar, separated
3 T instant coffee granules, separated
1 egg white
1 t vanilla
3 8 oz. packages, cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream, separated
1 T sweetened cocoa powder

Directions

Butter and flour the inside and bottom of a 9” x 13” pan and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the cookie crumbs, butter, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 T of the instant coffee granules, egg white and vanilla. Really get in there good and get everything well combined – this will be your crust.

Press the cookie mix into the bottom of your prepared pan. Take a fork and poke a few holes into the crust and bake it 325 for about 15 minutes. Take it out and let it cool on a wire rack until it’s back to room temperature. You can turn off the oven now, too – we’re done with that.

While the crust is finishing its cooling period, we can make the filling. Mix the cream cheese and the remaining 1 1/3 cups sugar with your hand mixer until everything is combined and it’s nice and fluffy. This’ll take a couple minutes.

Next, add in ¾ cup of the heavy cream. Mix on low until it’s just combined, then turn it up to high and whip until peaks form, kind of like when you’re making whipped cream. This’ll take another couple minutes.

Next take 3 cups of the cream cheese mixture (NOT all of it – this is about 60% of the total) and spoon it over the cooled crust. Leave the remaining 2-ish cups in the bowl.

In a small glass bowl, put the remaining ¼ cup of heavy cream. Microwave it on high for about 20 seconds, until it’s warm but not scalding (and definitely not boiling). Stir in the remaining 2 T of the coffee granules and the cocoa until both are completely dissolved. Take this bowl and stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes…we’re just cooling it down. Maybe take this time to clean the counters or whatever.

After 10 minutes, take the bowl out of the freezer and pour it into the remaining cream cheese mixture. Beat with your hand mixer until fully blended, about a minute.

Take this mixture and spoon it over the top of the original cream cheese mixture. Once that’s all on, take your spoon and swirl together the original cream cheese mixture and the mixture with the cocoa. Try to make it look artsy and nice, but don’t stress if it’s messy – it’s still gonna taste good.