Blueberry Cheesecake

It has been almost two weeks since we went blueberry picking and we are still eating the fruits of our labor!  I can't believe how fresh they still are.  (HAHA!  Yes I wrote this over a month ago... I am very behind!)  When I buy blueberries at the grocery store they usually only last a few days so I am quite impressed with the ones we picked fresh.  I guess that means that at the berries we buy at the grocery store take a long time to get there.  We picked these at Eagletree Farm in Leesburg and they never spray them with anything so they are perfect to eat right from the bush.  We have just a few fresh ones remaining, but lots in the freezer.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 Tablespoons of butter
• 1 1/4 Cups of Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 1 (8 oz) package of Cream Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla
• 6 oz of Blueberry Preserves (I used homemade)
• 3/4 Cup Fresh Blueberries
• 6 Tablespoons Sugar

Serves 8

Melt butter in microwave.  Mix with graham cracker crumbs and press into bottom of pie plate.  Put in fridge until ready to use.  

Evenly spread layer of Blueberry Preserves on top of graham layer.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy.  Next add in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Continue beating until ingredients are well blended.  

Evenly top jam layer with fresh blueberries

Pour cream cheese mixture over blueberries and bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.  Cheesecake will puff up slightly and turn a light golden color.  Cool completely before serving.  Store in fridge.

We have made lots of yummy treats with our blueberries this year.  Check out some of them below

Blueberry Muffin Tops


Frozen Blueberry Cheesecake Bites

Frozen Blueberry Bites

Frozen Blueberry Bites are a perfect hot weather treat!  They taste like blueberry cheesecake!  Only with A LOT LESS fat and calories.  You can substitute other types of berries like raspberries or strawberries.  You can pick them up with your fingers or put a few in a bowl and eat them with a spoon.  Either way it is a yummy guilt free treat!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Fat Free Cool Whip
• 3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
• 2 oz 1/3 less fat Cream Cheese
• 1 Cup of Blueberries

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, blueberries in food processor or blender.

 Place in bowl and hand stir in cool whip.

 Place in silicone baking tray (or ice cube tray) place in freezer for at least two hours.

Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars with Cinnamon Struesel Topping

Ingredients:

• Favorite snicker doodle cookie recipe or package cookie mix
• Small box vanilla pudding
• 2 Tbsp. Brown sugar
• 1 stick butter, room temp
• 2 eggs and 3 yolks
• 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 packages cream cheese, room temp
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup white sugar
•  Cinnamon Struesel Topping (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. In a large bowl mix the cookie mix, pudding, brown sugar, butter and 1 egg. Mix with a spoon until it gets too difficult to mix and then use your hands to finish kneading and squeeze into a ball. Place dough into greased baking pan and spread out and up along the sides.

Combine the remaining ingredients (except cinnamon struesel topping) and mix with hand mixer until well blended. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan, then top with below cinnamon struesel  topping. Bake for 25 minutes or until center is set. Remove from oven and cool on stovetop, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Cinnamon Struesel Topping:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon