Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Lemon with Blueberry is such a naturally delicious combination, and compliment each other beautifully in these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars. You may have seen or tried my other tasty lemon blueberry combo: Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes! They’re just made from a jazzed up white boxed cake mix, and topped with my go-to whipped cream frosting, yum!
These bars start with a classic shortbread cookie crust, and actually the same crust is crumbled on top with the addition of oats. I just love the texture that oats give to baked goods.
The filling is cheesecake-like, but a little more firm. There’s flour in the filling which is not in a classic cheesecake filling. It just creates a nice texture to these bars…a little fluffier vs. super creamy if I had to describe it. Erik is a food texture guy, and he specifically called out loving the texture of these bars.
I used fresh blueberries in these but frozen works too. The berries I used when photographing were so juicy, big and sweet. They were the perfect blueberries in my opinion!
These lemon blueberry cheesecake bars are pretty thick. I used a square pan, but if you wanted a thin bar you could try using a 9×13 pan but your baking times for the crust and filling would need to be reduced. This would also be really pretty made in a pie dish, served in thin wedges!
Here are a few of my other favorite bars, some of which don’t even involve baking!
Enjoy!
Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For the crust
- 2 sticks unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- zest of 1 lemon divided (use half)
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup oats for topping
For the filling
- 8 oz cream cheese room temp
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt plain, vanilla, or lemon flavor
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- lemon zest remaining half
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a square 9×9 baking pan with foil, leaving enough overhang to pull out later. A 9×13 pan can be used for a thinner bar but your baking times will vary, the square pan makes quite thick bars.
For the crust
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In a medium bowl combine the melted butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and 1/2 lemon zest until well combined. Stir in the flour until combined. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the crust to use as crumble on the top. Add oats to the reserved 1/2 cup for the topping. Set aside.
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Press remaining dough evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
For the filling
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While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. In a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in eggs. Add sugar, yogurt, other 1/2 lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract, and salt. Scrape sides as needed. Add flour and mix just until combined. Carefully fold in the blueberries.
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Pour filling into baked crust. Crumble the reserved crust dough over the top.
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Bake for 55-60 minutes. Allow to cool completely before refrigerating. Chill for at least 1 hour before slicing. Lift bars out of the pan with the foil handles, and slice. Store covered in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
These bars are thick. Thick crust an filling. If you want a thinner bar, try making in a 9×13 pan. Your crust baking time and overall filling baking time will be reduced. Try cutting the times in half, check for done-ness.
A round pie plate would also work well for these bars, and would make really pretty wedges for serving.
I’ve only made these with fresh blueberries but frozen would work just fine, and you should not need to thaw them.
2 Comments
Corey Colantuono
Would you suggest full fat yogurt?
Laura Doerr
Hi! You can go either way, it really does not matter. I’ve used fat free Greek yogurt and it worked great!