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Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars

List of Ingredients

Blueberry Filling:
1 cup blueberries, chopped
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Crumb Mixture:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old fashioned or quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional
1/2 cup butter

Cream Cheese Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened (I used light)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest (I used atleast 1 T.)




Recipe

Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C).

Lightly grease the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Set aside.

In a small saucepan combine blueberry filling ingredients; stir until corn starch is dissolved. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine all crumb mixture ingredients except butter; mix well. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture firmly in bottom of prepared baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl mix together the cream cheese filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended; pour into baked crust.

Spoon blueberry filling over cream cheese filling, swirl with knife to marbelize.

Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over filling.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely. Cut into bars. Store in the fridge.

Makes about 36 bars.

NOTES: I used frozen blueberries and didn't chop them but did smash them a bit while simmering them; I omitted the nuts; if I was thinking I would have added a little bit of salt to the crumb mixture; I used 1/3-less fat cream cheese; and used more lemon zest (I didn't measure, atleast a tablespoon or so).

This is a fairly thin bar (about an inch thick, if that), so it would be good for a picnic or potluck. People could just pick them up and eat them without a fork or a plate. If you wanted them thicker, I think you could make them in a 9x9 or 8x11 pan. You would maybe have to bake them longer. Next time I might add even more lemon zest and maybe make even more blueberry filling (about 1 1/2 or 2 times the amount without increasing the sugar). This isn't necessary though.