To Die For Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

Becoming a better bake is something I definitely need to work on. My friend Susan (who is amazing) made and brought these to the book club meeting I hosted earlier this month and they were SOOOO GOOD!!! She had them cut in bars and I kept a whole plate of them after the meeting...and only let Mike eat one...I wanted them ALL for myself :-)! These will be the first thing I try to master! Definitely make these, you can thank Susan later! (and I'll thank her now...thank you for sharing the recipe Susan)

CHOCOLATE PETAL CRUST
Ingredients:
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¼ cups unsifted flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:
-Beat butter in large bowl of electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, egg and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy.
-Combine dry ingredients. Add to butter mixture, beating well.
-Preheat oven to 375. Grease 9" by 13" pan. (I lined the pan with waxed paper, too)
-Pat crust mixture into pan.
-Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until crust is slightly puffed and feels somewhat firm when gently touched with fingertip. Cool slightly before filling.

FILLING:
Ingredients:
2 lbs cream cheese (low fat, not non-fat) (room temp helps)
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs (room temp.)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 cup sour cream (light)
1 cup semi sweet choc chips, melted

Directions:
-Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 or two at a time and then stir in the sour cream. I usually have to scrape the bowl 2 or 3 times while beating the cream cheese, sugar and eggs to get it all smooth.
*For the Chocolate swirl Cheesecake I made, pour all but 1/3 (roughly) of the batter on the prepared crust. Stir the chocolate in to the batter in the bowl, and then spoon it onto the batter in the pan. Try to place the spoonfuls so they are not touching and then gently swirl the batter a little with a butter knife.
-Cook at 300° for 1 hour or until middle springs back when touched. Chill before serving.

GLAZE:
I glazed it with a Ganache made with 1/2 cup cream and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. Bring the cream to a boil, add the chips, and stir until smooth. Unnecessary, but good.

Other Options:
Once you have the basic filling, you can melt 2 cups of chocolate chips and stir it into all the batter and have chocolate cheesecake. Or you can buy a bag of mini chips and stir them in. Or you can make it plain and put fresh berries or a glaze on it. You can also do it in a 10" spring form pan and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes. It will make a tremendous mess if you try a 9 inch pan.