These are extremely creamy lemon blueberry cheesecake bars baked on a graham cracker crust. Get pleasure from contemporary lemon taste and easy cheesecake, plus there’s no scarcity of juicy blueberries and crispy crust!
Like many bakers and dessert lovers, I take pleasure in baking a basic cheesecake. It’s a tall and mighty dessert with huge crowd attraction and limitless topping choices like strawberry sauce and salted caramel.
However there’s no arguing that baking a cheesecake might be daunting: Don’t over-sweeten! Keep away from over-baking! Don’t overlook the water bathtub! Will your springform leak? We’ll discover out!
It’s typically definitely worth the effort—I imply, I RAVE about this cheesecake recipe—but when I’m on the lookout for a faster, much less fussy cheesecake possibility, I normally make cheesecake pie or as we speak’s cheesecake bars.
Right here’s Why You’ll Love these Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
- All the feel of conventional cheesecake, however simpler and faster
- Additional creamy, further thick
- Tangy-sweet taste with a great deal of blueberries
- The cheesecake model of standard lemon blueberry cake
- Seize & go—no fork wanted!
Reader Pam says: “So scrumptious! Excellent quantity of lemon tartness with the sweetness of the blueberries is to die for! Since blueberries are in season right here proper now I used contemporary. Love the thick crust additionally. It holds up properly to the burden of the filling… ★★★★★”
Graham Cracker Crust Success Suggestions
Under you’ll discover my primary graham cracker crust recipe. It matches right into a 9-inch sq. baking pan completely, in addition to many 8-inch and 10-inch pans. I really like this specific crust as a result of it’s altogether crunchy, buttery, thick, and never overly candy like many crumb crusts of its type. We use it for blueberry cream cheese pie, banoffee pie, and these mini key lime pies.
Some useful suggestions:
- You want a cautious ratio of three elements: graham cracker crumbs, sugar, & melted butter.
- Use a meals processor or blender to grind 12 full-sheet graham crackers into crumbs.
- Stir the graham cracker crumbs and sugar collectively earlier than mixing within the butter.
- Press into your lined pan simply till it’s not crumbly. Don’t pack down too arduous.
Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes so it has somewhat head begin:
Seize These Elements for the Filling
- Blocks of Cream Cheese: Be sure to’re utilizing blocks of full-fat cream cheese and never the cream cheese in a bathtub you’ll use for spreading on bagels. Similar rule applies when making cream cheese frosting and strawberry cream cheese pie.
- Sugar: When over-sweetening these bars, you may’t detect the pure lemon and blueberry flavors. 6 Tablespoons is the magical unicorn quantity; it’s greater than 1/3 cup and never fairly 1/2 cup!
- Lemon: 1 giant lemon or 2 medium lemons are usually sufficient for these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars. You want 3 Tablespoons of juice and 1 teaspoon zest, which collectively is the proper quantity for beautiful lemon taste (that isn’t pucker-your-lips-sour!).
- Vanilla Extract: For scrumptious, wealthy taste.
- Egg: The cheesecake bars would disintegrate with an egg.
- Blueberries: You should utilize contemporary or frozen blueberries. If utilizing frozen, your batter can be swirled blue/purple.
The filling we use for lemon blueberry cheesecake bars is so much like this cheesecake pie. Lemon juice replaces the bitter cream and we will get away with 1 egg because the bars aren’t fairly as thick.
Anticipate a thick filling. Be sure to unfold it over the crust whereas the crust continues to be heat. Why? It will assist the filling adhere to the crust somewhat higher.
Success Tip: Right here’s how I wish to line sq. baking pans. Really easy!
Find out how to Reduce Neat Squares
Cool and bars at room temperature for about 1 hour, after which refrigerate them for two hours or till the underside of the pan feels chilly. Should you reduce the bars into squares too early, they’ll fully disintegrate. If I’m serving these at a celebration or occasion, I put together them the night time earlier than simply so I do know they’ll cool and chill lengthy sufficient to yield neat squares.
Slice them with a pointy knife and wipe it clear between every reduce.
I wouldn’t change a factor about this recipe! The entire workforce beloved how mild they tasted, in addition to how the buttery graham cracker crust complemented the lemon cheesecake filling. Discovering the tasty stability between tart and candy is difficult on the subject of lemon desserts, however these bars nail it!
Extra Lemon Desserts You’ll Love
Description
Creamy lemon cheesecake bars studded and swirled with blueberries. They’re ready on my easy graham cracker crust and can completely be your new favourite dessert!
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 9-inch sq. baking pan with parchment paper with sufficient overhang on the edges to simply carry the chilled bars out as an entire. Put aside.
- Make the crust: Utilizing a meals processor or blender, pulverize the graham crackers right into a wonderful crumb. Pour right into a medium bowl and blend with melted butter and sugar. Press into the lined pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Permit to chill as you put together the filling.
- Make the filling: Utilizing a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute on medium pace till easy. On medium pace, beat within the egg, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract collectively till easy and creamy, about 3 full minutes. Gently fold within the blueberries. Spoon filling onto the crust.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or till the cheesecake has arrange and the perimeters are flippantly browned. The bars can be very puffy, however will sink barely down as they cool. Permit to chill for half-hour at room temperature on a wire rack after which chill within the fridge for not less than three hours.
- Raise the parchment paper out of the pan and reduce into squares.
Notes
- Make Forward & Freezing Directions: The bars keep contemporary in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 5 days. You possibly can freeze the bars for as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than serving.
- Non-US Readers: Don’t have graham crackers the place you reside? Use 200g floor digestive biscuit crumbs as an alternative (about 13–14 biscuits), the identical quantity of butter, and add a bit extra sugar (about 1/3 cup, or 67g). You could want so as to add a couple of further minutes to the pre-baking time, as digestive biscuits aren’t fairly as crispy-crunchy as graham crackers. And from what I perceive, spreadable cream cheese bought in a bathtub in international locations outdoors of the US is somewhat completely different from the spreadable cream cheese within the US. It’s thicker, sturdier, and extra strong and ought to be OK to make cheesecake. I’ve no expertise with it, however that is what I’ve heard from different non-US readers.
Key phrases: lemon blueberry cheesecake bars
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