In an effort to continue emptying the pounds of meat in our freezer, last night we had a couple guys over and fired up the grill. Venison burgers and moose burgers (both topped with bacon), steaks and moose sausages. And as if 4 species of animals wasn’t enough, one of our friends brought some buffalo chicken dip too. A man’s heaven. I left the meat to the boys, and I was in charge of dessert.

A little bird told me that our friend Brandon has a particular affinity for cheesecake. I didn’t really have time to make cheesecake (and refrigerate for hours), so I went to the next best thing: cheesecake bars! I found this recipe on Pinterest and it is supposedly from Weight Watchers… which doesn’t really make sense since there isn’t one single healthy thing in here. Weird. I suppose WW stays in business if they plump up their clients!

M&M Cheesecake Squares

(from Weight Watchers)

• 1/3 cup margarine, room temperature
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup flour
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup M&M’s

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. With an electric mixer, beat the margarine and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the walnuts and flour and mix until crumbly. Reserve 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture and press the remaining mixture into the bottom of a 8″ square pan. I lined the bottom of mine with parchment paper, just in case, but you could probably just nonstick spray it.

Bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, and using an electric mixer again, mix at medium speed until well blended. (I didn’t even bother cleaning the mixer in between the two steps). Add the egg and continue mixing until combined. Layer 1/2 cup of the M&M’s over the crust.

Top with the cream cheese mixture.

Combine the remaining M&M’s and reserved crumb mixture. Sprinkle the crumbs over the cream cheese.

Bake for an additional 20 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

If these are considered diet food, maybe I should consider going on a diet! They reminded me more of a cheese danish than a cheesecake, but were tasty nonetheless. The cheesy layer was the best part, and I’d definitely consider doubling it next time.

In other news, thanks to everyone who has voted for my recipe! If you haven’t voted yet, please click here and vote for my sausage stuffed jalapenos. It only takes a second and I’d really appreciate it!

Enjoy the end of your weekends, and GO PATS!