Blueberry Cheesecake Squares

It all started with a picture. Did you know that Pinterest is a great place to look for recipes? A lot of bloggers pin pictures of their creations. But don't blame me if you come away hungry!

I'd had a concept in my head. Blueberries swirled in cheesecake bars. Sounds good, doesn't it? So I was looking around to see if someone had tried it. After all, there's a good chance that the blueberries would just turn the cheesecake bars a dirty blue.

When I looked, a picture of a blueberry cheesecake bar kept popping up. It had some kind of crumbled cookie bottom, then cheesecake, then glistening blueberries on top. And every single time I saw that picture and clicked on it, my computer flashed an alarm and told me it was a highly dangerous website and not to go there. Naturally, I assumed some clever person used a gorgeous photo to lure people to who knows what. A horrible cyber attack, maybe?

So I baked it. It's actually very easy. I used cinnamon graham crackers on the bottom, plain cheesecake in the middle, and lightly cooked blueberries on the top. The only drawback is that it does need to sit in the fridge a few hours before you can cut it.

1 8-inch square baking pan

1 1/2 cups cinnamon graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons melted butter + extra for greasing

2 eggs at room temperature

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon lemon juice

16 ounces blueberries (I used frozen blueberries)

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

2-4 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 350. Grease the baking pan. Combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and press into the bottom of the pan.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice together. Add one egg at a time, beating well. Pour into pan. Bake 25 minutes or until the center is set.

While it bakes, place the blueberries, cornstarch, sugar, and water in a pan and bring to a gentle boil. Stir and cook at a simmer about two minutes. When the cream cheese has baked, allow to cool on a rack until it begins to firm and the edges are no longer hot. Using a tablespoon, gently spoon the blueberries over the cream cheese in an even layer. Refrigerate about three hours before cutting.