Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

So when blackberries were on sale recently, they had blueberries on sale too. I had to have them. I decided to use those blueberries in this cheesecake recipe that Mary posted on her site Meet Me in the Kitchen. The recipe comes from Tyler Florence via the Food Network. Now I only had 6 oz. of blueberries to use and the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups blueberries. I probably used about a cup. I thought it was more than enough blueberries. The cheesecake had a wonderful consistency. It was not to light and not to dense, it was just right. The only negative that I have for this recipe was it was too strong on the lemon for me. Next time I will either reduce the amount of zest used or just leave it out completely. I think the lemon was too strong and took away from the other flavors in the cheesecake. It was very delicious, but just needed less lemon. I will definitely keep this recipe.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

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 (too much lemon for me, I’ll probably just try using the juice only)
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 (or blender), 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 (or mix in a bowl with a hand mixer) 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