These things turned out astonishing — I am calling the de-gluten-ization of the original recipe a definite success! It was a find in one of my holiday baking magazines from Delish. 

The only thing is, you know - it’s such a shame, sometimes, the sacrifices one goes through for a food blog. We had to eat a couple pans of these with forks before I got the recipe to where you could really pick it up like a bar cookie. 

It was just terrible, extra cookies in the fridge for a couple weeks. But we managed to survive eating those extra pans of cookies for you! And now flour and butter quantities have been regulated, and they are bar cookies extraordinaire!

Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CHEESECAKE LAYER

2 (8-oz.) blocks cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

A grind or two of sea salt

FOR THE SNICKERDOODLE LAYER

2 1/4 c. almond flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. kosher salt

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

1 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 c. granulated sugar mixed with 1 tsp. cinnamon, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350º and grease a 9"-x-13" baking pan with cooking spray. Prepare cheesecake layer: In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt and beat until combined.
2. 2. Prepare snickerdoodle layer: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars with a hand mixer, then add eggs and vanilla and mix until just combined. Gradually add flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. 
3. 3. Press about half of the snickerdoodle dough into an even layer in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar. (Dough will be sticky.) Pour cheesecake batter on top and smooth with a rubber spatula. Add enough flour to your remaining snickerdoodle dough that it starts to break into small clumps. Using your hands to separate the clumps of dough, sprinkle across the cheesecake layer. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar. 
4. 4. Bake until edges are set and center of cheesecake mixture is only slightly jiggly, about 40 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing into them.

Servings: 20 bars