Simple Blueberry Cheesecake Recipe

If you love cheesecakes like I do, and imagined that you could only get great tasting cheesecakes from the shops, then think again! I used to spend good bucks on satisfying my cheesecake hankerings. But these days not so much. Why? Well, I discovered that I could make great tasting cheesecakes right at home. If I can do it, so can you!

Check out my recipe for a simple blueberry cheesecake recipe. You could easily change the blueberry topping to another of your favorite fruit such as strawberries or cherries. You could even add a chocolate ganache if you prefer. The important part (and perhaps the tricky part) is making the cheesecake base itself.

Enjoy this simple blueberry cheesecake recipe!

Simple Blueberry Cheesecake Recipe

Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients

1.5 cups of crumbled honey (or cinnamon if you prefer) graham cookies
2 tablespoons of melted butter

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients

12 ounces cream cheese (I used low-fat)

0.5 cup brown sugar

1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

0.5 cup sour cream

0.5 cup applesauce (or you can use 2 large eggs)

Blueberry Topping Ingredients

3 cups blueberries (I used frozen)

0.5 cup brown sugar

2.25 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Simple Blueberry Cheesecake Recipe Method

1. Mix the crumbled graham crackers with the melted butter. Press into the base of the 9 inch pie dish.

2. Place the pie dish with the crust base in the fridge to chill and set while you do the rest. Ideally, the pie crust is chilled for at least an hour. You can also prepare the pie crust the night before.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

4. Place the cream cheese into a bowl, and add the brown sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the lemon juice and zest. Then add the sour cream and applesauce, and beat until incorporated. The batter should be smooth, and not too runny.

5. Pour batter into the prepared pie crust dish. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Check to see if it is done by inserting a toothpick in the middle, if it is done, it should come out clean. As it bakes, the batter will slowly puff up. This is normal, do not open the oven door. When done, remove pie from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. The filling will deflate slightly as it cools, forming a shallow cavity.

6. While the cheesecake base is cooling, prepare the blueberry topping. Combine half of the blueberries, the brown sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly. As the mixture cooks, the sugar will liquefy and the berries will cook and release their juices. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat, and stir in remaining blueberries. Cool to room temperature.

7. Once the cheesecake base and the blueberry topping has cooled, spread the blueberries on the top of the cheesecake base. Retain the remaining blueberry sauce for serving with the cheesecake.

8. Refrigerate the blueberry cheesecake until chilled before serving.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Basic Cheesecake Base - Baked and Ready

Blueberry Cheesecake

A Slice of Blueberry Cheesecake

Quick and Easy Strawberry Pie Recipe

I was looking for a quick and easy strawberry pie recipe online, but I failed to find one. Many of the strawberry pie recipes I came across online contained ingredients such as rhubarb. But all I wanted was to do a straightforward strawberry pie recipe. So I searched various sources and combined recipes to put together a simple strawberry pie recipe. For pie crust lovers like myself, this is pure heaven! Hope you find this recipe useful.

Quick and Easy Strawberry Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

Pie Crust

2.5 cups of flour
2 sticks of butter
1.5 tablespoons of brown sugar
0.5 teaspoon of salt
0.5 cup of ice cold water

Strawberry Pie Filling

4 cups ripe strawberries (fresh or frozen)
0.75 cup brown sugar
0.5 teaspoon cinnamon powder
0.25 teaspoon nutmeg powder
3 tablespoons potato starch
pinch of salt

Strawberry Pie Recipe Method

1. Cut butter sticks into small cubes. Keep cubes of butter ice cold until ready to use. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

2. Combine flour and salt in a bowl.

3. Drop in cubes of butter, and gently rub butter with your fingertips into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Butter pieces should be small, no bigger than a petite green pea size.

4. Sprinkle water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, over mixture. Shape out an even dough.

5. Wrap the dough in plastic and place in the fridge while preparing the strawberry pie filling.

6. Cut the ripe strawberries into half. Mix all of the ingredients listed under the strawberry filling in a bowl.

7. Take the dough out of the fridge, cut into half. Roll out the dough to fit into a 9 inch pie dish including enough for the trimming of the pie dish.

8. Pour strawberry filling into the pie dish.

9. Roll out the second half of the dough. Cut flattened dough into strips. Weave the strips into a lattice, or place the strips on the filling. Be sure to press the ends of the strips to the edges of the trimmed pie dough base.

10. Bake the pie at 400 F for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 F and continue baking for approximately 50 minutes, or longer if needed. Once the filling appears bubbling, the strawberry pie should be done.

Strawberry Pie

The lattice weave here is not even
(did this recipe past midnight)
BUT the taste of the dough was great!

Close up of the juicy strawberry filling

Easy Orange-Cranberry Cake

In my previous blog article on sticky cinnamon rolls I mentioned that I was not a real fan of ultra sugary dessert treats.

My taste buds tend to be more on the tangy and sour side for desserts. I found a cake recipe that satisfies that. It is a deliciously moist orange-cranberry cake. And the best part is that is so easy to prepare!

I have made three cakes from this recipe so far, and will continue it whenever I have a craving for a tangy AND sweet dessert.

Orange-Cranberry Cake Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 stick unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 cups dried cranberries (or 1 cup dried and 1 cup fresh)

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Mix all of the ingredients above in a mixing bowl - yes, it is as simple as that! Mix until batter is softened and able to slowly drip of the mixing spoon. The batter should not be too soft or drippy though.

Then pour the mixed batter into a 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350F for about 45-55 minutes. To check and see that cake is done, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out dry, then the cake is done.

Notes:
The above recipe results in a moist and crumbly cake. To harden it, you may keep it in the fridge for an hour, then slice it. To serve warm, heat in an oven or microwave.

I also altered the recipe with different ingredients. I used 1 cup bread flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour. Instead of butter, I used 2 tablespoons of canola oil. With these two alternations in ingredients, I obtained a less moist, but firmer cake. The taste is akin to a bread cake - like banana bread. But not buttery.

I preferred the first one - as I think most people would.

But some of the people who tried my 2nd version with the canola oil, liked it better.

Try them both and see what works for you :)