Blueberry Cheese Pie

Are you familiar with "no-bake cheesecakes"?  The kind where you buy a pre-made graham cracker crust in a tin, a package of cream cheese and a tub of "non-dairy whipped topping", and a can of pie filling?  Well, that's sort of what this pie is.  The pie itself is not baked, but the homemade graham cracker crust will need to be baked for about 10 minutes.  The creamy, rich cheese layer doesn't rely upon the tub of questionable ingredients such as hydrogenated vegetable oil, two forms of fructose corn syrup, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, and "natural and artificial ingredients" (whatever those are); we will just whip some real cream instead.  And the fruit on top is made from a super-quick homemade pie filling, foregoing even more fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes.

While blueberries aren't in season here yet, I still have some frozen from last year's haul. Raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are all good substitutes if you don't have any blueberries.  The sweet, buttery graham cracker crust and honey sweetened, creamy cheese layer makes a delicious foundation for any fruit topping you'd like.

April's blog hop theme is #berrylove, and below the recipe you will find an ongoing list of contributed berry themed recipes all April long, as well as a list of all the talented co-hosts this month!


Blueberry Cheese Pie
Crust:

• 1 1/2 c finely crushed graham crackers (preferably home-made, but if you decide to purchase them, be sure to get a brand which uses only all natural ingredients)
• 5 Tbs butter, melted
• 2 Tbs raw honey

Cheese Layer:

• 1/2 c heavy cream
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 Tbs raw honey
• 1 Tbs lemon zest (preferably from an organic lemon)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Blueberry Layer:

• 3 c fresh or frozen blueberries (thawed if previously frozen), divided
• 2 Tbs raw honey
• 1 Tbs non-GMO cornstarch, such as Rumford
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and honey. Mix well.

Press the mixture on the bottom and up the sides of a 9" pie pan.

Bake 8-12 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a medium bowl, beat the whipping cream with a hand held electric mixer set to high speed until stiff; about 3 minutes.

In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, honey, lemon zest and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Gently fold the whipped cream into the cheese mixture.

Spread the cheese mixture over the graham cracker crust.

Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine 2 cups blueberries, honey, cornstarch and lemon juice. Cook and stir until the mixture is thick and bubbly; about 5-6 minutes total.

Stir in the remaining 1 cup of blueberries.  Cool completely.

Pour the blueberry mixture over the cheese mixture.  Chill at least 1 hour before serving.

Top with extra honey sweetened, vanilla spiked whipped cream if desired.

Please join in on the #berrylove by linking up any berry recipe from the month of April 2012.  Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #berrylove event! The twitter hashtag is #berrylove.

April's Berry Love Co-hosts are:

A little bit of everything ~ Roxana GreenGirl ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl | Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29 | Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins | BigFatBaker ~ Erin Meyer ~ @bigfatbaker | Bon à croquer ~ Valerie ~ @valouth | Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess | Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies | Elephant Eats ~ Amy | Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19 | Java Cupcake~ Betsy Eves ~ @JavaCupcake | Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies~ T.R. ~ @TRCrumbley | Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose | Queen’s Notebook ~ Elizabeth  Quirino ~ @Mango_Queen | Rico sin Azúcar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar | Simply Reem ~  Reem ~ @Simplyreem | Soni’s Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood | Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna Segrave-Daly ~ @tspbasil | That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!! ~ Liz ~ @thatskinnychick | The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~ @TAofCRF | The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian | Vegan Yack Attack ~ Jackie S. ~ @veganyackattack | Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @vegetarianmamma | Georgie Cakes ~ Georgie ~ @GeorgieCakes

Stawberry Almond Cheesecake Bites

For so many of us, a large portion of Valentine's Day includes the whole family.  Ever since my kids were small, we've made this fun and healthy treat to celebrate the national day of Love.

Kids love to help pulverize the graham crackers, and they do a fantastic job.  Simply place the crackers in a ziploc bag and give them a rolling pin; they seem to know exactly what to do.  Even though my kids are teenagers now, this is still a favorite job.

While they are having fun beating the blazes out of the graham crackers, you can get the cheesecake dip together.  In a matter of minutes, you have a "build your own" sort of strawberry cheesecake bunch of love going on.

Strawberry Almond Cheesecake Bites
Makes about 1 cup dip

• 1 quart fresh strawberries, hulls in tact, washed and patted dry
• 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 c plain yogurt
• 1 Tbs heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp raw  honey
• 1/3 tsp pure almond extract
• 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs (preferably home made)
• 1/4 finely chopped almonds

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, yogurt, whipping cream, honey, and almond extract with a hand held mixer until smooth and creamy; about 2 minutes.

Place the cream cheese mixture into a bowl.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and almonds in another bowl.

Grab the strawberries by the hull, dip them into the cream cheese mixture, then roll in the graham cracker mixture, and enjoy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Maple Apple Cheesecake

I am not a patient cook.  I am the one who will stick my hand in a hot oven to steal a 425 degree, not quite fully cooked, potato wedge with my bare fingers, or taste the simmering soup with only a few blows and end up burning my tongue.  So when it comes to cheesecake, I'm pretty much a lost cause because the eight hour required settling time drives me absolutely mad, and I just can't keep my fingers out of it for that long.

For the most part, I've found that if I make the cake in the evening, it can have all night while I'm asleep to firm unimpeded.  I say "for the most part", because I go to bed thinking about it resting in my fridge, so naturally I dream about it, and of course I wake up at 2am, go to check on it, and have to poke at it to make sure it's firming, and then scoop a little out to make sure it tastes okay.  I'm quite proud because I only stuck my finger in this particular cake once when I should have been asleep, which is some kind of record for me.  I later found out, while we were eating cheesecake for breakfast, that my son did the same shortly after I did; I guess the apple never really does fall far from the tree after all.

I actually developed this recipe for a contest for midwestern desserts, but since I started late and then forgot to submit it until the day after the contest ended, it was never entered.  So, the recipe is now fair game to publish here instead.  While I was working on the recipe, I made three of the cakes.  In the first, I used honey, but as the cake settled, the honey flavor became so pronounced, that it was really the only flavor that could be tasted (and it was kind of gross).  The second was with maple syrup, which was perfect.  The third was the same as the second, just because the second was so good.

Just because I don't like taking any chances with the cheesecake sticking to the pan, after I butter the pan, I cut out a sheet of parchment paper to fit the bottom, and then butter that, too.  An easy way to be sure the parchment fits is to tear off a sheet (larger than the pan), fold it in half, fold it in half again, and then continue to fold from the center point until you have a narrow triangle.  Once you've got the triangle, place the point in the center of the pan and measure to the edge, making a fold or a mark of some sort, and then cut the paper; when you open it, it will fit perfectly into the bottom of your pan.

Fold the parchment in half

Fold in half again

Fold into a triangle at the fold point

Fold a few more times, keeping the point

Place the point in the middle of your pan, measure where the edge is, then cut 

Unfold and line the bottom of your pan

Maple Apple Cheesecake
serves 10-12

Crust:

• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1/4 c pure maple syrup
• 1 c flour
• 1/4 c rolled oats
• 1/4 c pecans, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Filling:

• 2 pkgs (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c pure maple syrup
• 1/2 c sour cream
• 1/3 c applesauce
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp pure maple extract
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Topping:

• 1/3 c pure maple syrup, divided
• 3 cups thinly sliced and peeled apples
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 c pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter the inside of a 9" springform pan.  Line the bottom of the pan with a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit, and butter the parchment as well.

In a bowl, cream butter and maple syrup with a hand held electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Gradually add flour, oats, pecans and cinnamon until well blended.  Press the mixture onto the bottom and 1 1/2 inches up the sides of the buttered 9" springform pan.

Place on a baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until set.  Cool on wire rack.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy.  On low speed, beat in maple syrup, sour cream and applesauce, just until blended.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat on low speed after each addition just until combined.  Stir in maple and vanilla extracts (batter will be thin).  Pour over cooled crust.

Combine the apples, cinnamon, and 1/3 cup maple syrup.  Carefully arrange the apples over the top of the batter.  

Add the pecans into the apple bowl and mix to coat in any remaining liquid.  Sprinkle the pecans (and any remaining liquid) over the top of the apples.

Bake at 350F for about 1 hour, or until center is almost set.  Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen, but do not uncinch the pan.  Cool at room temperature 1 hour more, then refrigerate at least 8 hours.