Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars

These Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars are amazing.  They are incredibly lemony, with  lemon in the shortbread crust, lemon in the cheesecake layer, and lemon in the blueberry mixture.  Perfectly tart, sweet and creamy, with a wonderful burst of blueberries.

A dear friend arrived bright and early on a Saturday morning with fresh lemons, blueberries, and coffee... and we got to work.

Lemons were zested.

Blueberry's were cooked.

The kids got in on the action.

And discovered that drinking lemon juice is not at all like drinking lemonade.

 We drank coffee, dirtied dishes, washed them and dirtied them again.  We talked about hockey, school, soccer, the weather... and how much we'd miss a mutual friend who would soon be leaving us with her upcoming move to the US.  We sampled the cooling blueberry sauce and decided it would be great on ice-cream or pancakes or waffles... and sampled it again just to be sure.  We plopped it onto the creamy cheesecake layer and let loose our inner artists to create decorative swirls.

 Kids wandered in and out of the kitchen while we waited on the oven.  It was a long 40 minutes.

But oh so worth it.  Lemon heaven.

We didn't wait for them to cool.

Seriously, you need to make these.

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Crust

1 1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping tbsp lemon zest

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

Filling

2 cups fresh blueberries

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 - 250g blocks cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp lemon zest

1 tbsp vanilla 

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment.

Combine 1 tbsp lemon zest with 1/2 cup granulated sugar and rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers to infuse the sugar with lemon.  Beat butter with the granulated sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl on medium speed until creamy.  Beat in flour and salt until combined.  Press dough into bottom of prepared pan and bake until edges are golden, 25 - 30 minutes.

Combine blueberries with brown sugar, 2 tbsp lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until berries are just soft, 5 - 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Combine 1 tbsp lemon zest with 1/2 cup granulated sugar and rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers to infuse the sugar with lemon.  Strain the sugar to remove the zest.  Beat cream cheese with the lemon infused sugar and vanilla in a large bowl on medium speed until smooth.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined. 

Scrape cream cheese mixture onto warm crust and smooth top.  Dollop blueberry mixture randomly over top of cream cheese layer.  Gently pull a knife tip through the top to create swirls.

Bake in centre of oven until filling is set, about 40 min.  Cool.  Enjoy.

 

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