Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
July’s Secret Recipe Club day has arrived! This month I was paired up with Baking and the Boys. Finally, another blogger who’s as obsessed with baking as I am! I set off to browse through Katrina’s posts and found myself tagging quite a few of them. When baked goods are involved, it’s not that surprising that I saw quite a few recipes I was interested in. And, I was excited to again be introduced to a blog I had never heard of before!
I had quite a few recipes tagged and once again, deffered to Hubby. I actually thought he would go for a different recipe, but he chose these blueberry cheesecake bars. I’m so glad he did because they are AMAZING.
They start with a chewy oat base that is baked before being topped with a homamde blueberry jam filling. Next comes a layer of cheesecake (dairy free for me, of course), and last another crumble of the oat mixture on top.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the combination of the blueberry sauce and the cheesecake (again, no surprise, remember this guy?). And the oats gave a nice chewy texture that was appreciated. After we snacked on a few of these, I put the rest in plastic bags in the freezer. Hubby threw one in his lunch every day until they were gone.
One Year Ago: Blueberry Almond Cake with Lemon Drizzle and Avon Walk Recap
Two Years Ago: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Three Years Ago: Rum Punch Cupcakes and Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting
Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Yield: 16 bars
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup dark (or light) brown sugar, packed
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Blueberry Filling:
1 2/3 cup blueberries
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2-3 tsp lemon juice
Cheesecake Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt
Directions:
Heat oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper.
Prepare Crust:
In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add melted butter and stir with fork until evenly moistened (mixture will be very crumbly). Reserve 1/2 cup crumb mixture for topping; Press remaining mixture firmly over bottom of foil-lined pan. Bake 12 minutes to set crust.
Prepare Filling:
In a small saucepan, combine blueberries, sugar and cornstarch. Stir in lemon juice. Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until mixture begins to thicken slightly (about 7 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before pouring over baked crust.
Prepare Cheesecake Filling:
In bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla and salt and beat well. Add egg and mix until combined. Pour cheesecake filling over blueberry filling.
Crumble reserved crumb mixture over top.
Bake 30 minutes until top is browned and filling is bubbly. Let cool completely in pan set on a wire rack. When cool, chill for an hour before cutting. Lift foil by ends onto a cutting board. Peel off foil; cut into 16 bars. Store in refrigerator, but serve at room temperature.
Recipe from Baking and the Boys, originally from Cookie Madness
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
WOW – I would like to have a piece of that cake as soon as possible! looks beautiful and delicious!
This cake looks beautiful and I love the addition of toasted coconut!
I love love cakes with coconut. So delicious.
Beautiful cake!
Totally agree – the more layers the better! The cake looks stunning!
Had I been at your dinner party you wouldn’t have had to cook anything. I would have just completely indulged in this gorgeous cake!
This cake looks incredible! coconut and lemon are two of my favorite flavors; I’m glad you don’t have to choose one or the other with this recipe.
This sounds wonderful. Coconut with lemon curd, yummmm!
This looks fantastic – so springy and beautiful, and absolutely delish 🙂
what a wonderful cake!
Beautiful cake! I’ve been craving a coconut cake, but I know too many people who don’t like coconut cake that if I made it I wouldn’t have anyone to share. Boo.
ooh, fabulous. love the lemon curd-coconut combo, and in a layer cake, fun!!
OF COURSE 4 is better than 2!!! This looks amazing….I love the idea of lemon and coconut together-and it’s gorgeous!
Love lemon curd, love coconut, especially love a cake that lets me “frost” the sides with ease. This looks so yummy!!
Such a delicious cake! I honestly didn’t know a 6 inch was half of a 9 inch….thank you 🙂
I told my girlfriend I would bake her a cake for her birthday this Sunday !!! I got lemon curd and coconut stuck in my brain, so I started googling… which led me to your page !!! This recipie looks almost perfect !!
Couple questions…
Do you think the coconut extract was too strong for the cake, because you also have the browned coconut pcs too? I was considering vanilla bean cake, lemon curd and toasted coconut on the outside… but perhaps that wouldn’t be enough coconut flavour…. your thoughts?
Lastly… what did you use as the frosting to keep the toasted coconut on? It looks like whipping cream…. ?!?!?
Thanks !!!
Kelly
P.S
This is the first cake I’ve ever baked !!! lol