Lemon Blueberry Yumminess!

Hi All or None,

Had to share my triumphant dessert with ya'll. Yes, I'm from Oklahoma. No, I don't normally write this way. Yes, it's a joke. Little touchy, aren't I? Anyways, I made Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars, thanks to Tyler Florence and foodtv.com. Tyler, I always think it's amazing that a man can be a cute as you and cook as well as you do. Here's the recipe. I used frozen blueberries, thawed and drained of juice. I also just eyeballed the berries as in a dessert like this, more berries can be a good thing, just don't go crazy. And these are so good, there's no need for powdered sugar, just a fork.

Update: These are even better refrigerated with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence, 2007
For the base:
Butter, for greasing
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 graham crackers
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
2 lemons, zested and juiced
About 1/2 cup sugar, eyeball it
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

For the base:
Grease the bottom of a 9 by 9-inch baking pan with butter. Then place parchment paper over the top, pressing down at the corners. In a food processor, process the sugar, cinnamon and graham crackers until you have the texture of bread crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse a couple of times to fully incorporate. Pour into the lined baking pan and gently pat down with the base of a glass. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes until golden. When done set aside to cool.

For the filling:
Add cream cheese, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar to the food processor and mix until well combined. It should have a smooth consistency. Pour onto the cooled base and then cover with blueberries. They will sink slightly but should still be half exposed -- as the cake bakes they will sink a little more and break down.

Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the center only slightly jiggles. Remove from the oven and cool completely before refrigerating for at least 3 hours. Once set, remove from pan using the parchment lining and slice into 10 rectangular bars. Dust with powdered sugar.


Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 10 bars
User Rating:5 Stars

Episode#: TU0301
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