Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

Gluten free almond shortbread:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and line a 23cm square baking pan with parchment/baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the softened butter, sugar and vanilla, and mix well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend, almond flour, xanthan gum and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and mix well until it starts clumping together. Then, give it a knead until you get a homogeneous cookie dough.
5. Press about ⅔ of the shortbread cookie dough (about 380g) into the lined baking pan. Smooth it out into an even layer, this is easiest done with a small offset spatula. Set the remaining ⅓ of the cookie dough aside until needed.
6. Bake the bottom shortbread crust at 180ºC for about 20 minutes or until evenly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool until warm while you prepare the cheesecake filling. Keep the oven at 180ºC.

Cheesecake filling:

1. In a large bowl using a balloon whisk, mix the cream cheese and yoghurt together until smooth.
2. Tip: Make sure to MIX rather than whisk or aerate – you don't want to incorporate too much air into the mixture. If you don't want to do this by hand, use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on the lowest speed setting. (I don't recommend using a hand mixer.)
3. Mix together sugar and cornstarch, and add them to the cream cheese mixture. Mix well until combined.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well until smooth.

Assembling & baking the strawberry cheesecake bars:

1. Pour the cheesecake filling over the warm shortbread crust and smooth it out into an even layer.
2. Scatter the chopped strawberries evenly over the cheesecake filling, then crumble the remaining ⅓ of the shortbread cookie dough on top, making sure that you get a fairly even coverage with some of the filling and strawberries peeking through.
3. Bake at 180ºC for about 35-40 minutes or until the crumble topping is golden brown and the filling is only very slightly wobbly when you shake the baking pan.
4. Tip: If the filling is too jiggly, it won’t set properly and could end up too soft (which will make cutting the bars a rather messy business).
5. Allow the bars to cool completely to room temperature in the baking pan and then chill them in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Once chilled, use the overhanging parchment/baking paper to remove them out of the pan, slice and serve.
6. The strawberry cheesecake bars will be even better after an overnight chill in the fridge.