Saturday, July 13, 2013

Housewarming Party - Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

I've made these cheesecake bars 3 times now, and they're so good every time. It actually took some effort to get all of the ingredients. For some reason, stores around here don't have loose oranges very often. I found them at the 3rd store I tried. I think the best part of these bars is that we got to use the blueberries we picked and froze last month!

Recipe: Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
From: Baked Bree
Yield: 24 bars

Ingredients:
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 fresh orange juice
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch (I realized I didn't have any, so used flour instead)
2 sticks butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 brick (8 oz) cream cheese (I use neufchatel, 1/3 less fat), at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
2 eggs
2 tsp orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine blueberries, orange juice, sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until berries have released juice and some have burst, and mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool while doing the rest.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9x13 baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. In a stand mixer, mix together the butter, flour and powdered sugar. Mixture will be crumbly. Dump into the prepared baking sheet, and press to the bottom of the pan until even. Bake for 20 minutes.

While baking, mix the cream cheese and sugar in stand mixer until smooth. Add flour, then eggs, one at a time, orange zest and vanilla, and mix until smooth. Once crust is done, pour the mixture onto the hot crust. Add spoonfuls of the blueberry mixture on top of the cream cheese mixture, and swirl with a knife.

Bake another 20 minutes, until cheesecake is set. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour, and then refrigerate at least 1 hour before cutting.

Nutrition:
174 calories
10.4 g fat
18 g carbs
0.6 g fiber
2.8 g protein

Pictures
Blueberry mixture completed

Cream cheese mixture, smooth

Pouring cream cheese mixture onto hot crust

Cream cheese mixture poured onto crust

Spooned blueberry mixture onto cream cheese mixture

Swirled blueberries = pretty

Baked cheesecake bars

Cut up and ready to serve!

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