Blueberry Crumble Cheesecake Bars

First recipe share of 2019, and it's a keeper!

I love crumble. I love cheesecake. And I love the two together!  (And by I,  I mean we, right?! )

While there are a few steps here for the various layers,  you could quite easily make the base and crumble in advance, then put it all together when you're ready to make the cheesecake layer. 

A few years ago I would have proudly made the blueberry preserve from scratch, too. 

But these days, between work, kids' sports, homework, buying groceries, making meals, etc, etc *

I cut myself some slack. 

It is okay to delegate! And I've delegated the preserve-making to Bonne Maman - delicious preserves conveniently found in a jar at the local supermarket 😉

(*etc encompassing everything else we mothers do - too exhausting to list!) 

Blueberry Crumble Cheesecake Bars
recipe by Tea, Cake and Create 

Line a 22cm square cake pan with a double layer of baking parchment.
Pre-heat the oven to 160'C when starting the cheesecake preparation.


Base
200g cookie crumbs (use a food processor, or smash the cookies with a rolling pin in a ziploc bag)
40g uncooked porridge oats (not instant oats)
80g butter

Melt the butter. Stir in the cookie crumbs and oats. Press into the base of the square cake tin.
Chill in the freezer for 30min.

Crumble 

40g uncooked porridge oats (not instant oats)
60g cake flour
40g brown sugar
50g butter,  at room temp.

Use a fork, or your fingers, to mix all the crumble ingredients together. Set aside until needed.

Cheesecake Layer
2x 230g tubs medium-fat cream cheese
100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
120ml (1/2 cup) sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the cream cheese and caster sugar together. Add the sour cream. Mix well.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Pour the mixture over the chilled base.
Bake at 160'C for 30 minutes.

Blueberry layer 
3/4 cup good quality blueberry preserve
Heat the preserve in a small saucepan to ease the following step:

Spread the layer of blueberry preserve on the cheesecake after it has baked for 30minutes.
Generously sprinkle the crumble on top of the blueberry layer.

Return to the oven and bake for another 30minutes.
The crumble should be light golden brown.

Remove from the oven to cool.
Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before removing from the cake pan and slicing into squares.

Try the jam layer with different preserves - strawberry, raspberry, peach... Whatever you find on the shelf 😉

Happy baking!

xxM

Star-in-Star Cookies

I would love to be posting something fresh and amazing as the first post of 2019; but I'm afraid I'm still quagmired in 2018!
Although the Christmas tree is down and the decorations are all packed away -  I can say that, at least! But I'm otherwise feeling quite unprepared to tackle this year.
January is always a challenging month - it's a transition from the order of a year well in hand, to the chaos of holidays, then back to the demands of a new school year. Back to the crazy juggling act that is life, parenthood, and work (career, business, hobbies...)
We do juggle a lot, don't we?
So I'm going to cut myself some slack and not feel too guilty about posting something that was meant for Christmas, but will be my first New Year offering instead. Ok?!

These star-in-star cookies are so simple, but lovely additions to a Christmas any-occasion cookie jar. Think heart-in-hearts for Valentines Day!

You'll need :
- Half a batch of the lightly spiced cookie dough* chilled**
- Half a batch of chocolate cookie dough* chilled**
- A set of star cutters in graduated sizes.
- The usual paraphernalia for making cookies: rolling pins, silicone mats, baking trays, etc

(*Either halve all the ingredients in the recipes, or make full batches and freeze any cookie dough you don't use - it's always handy to have some cookie dough in the freezer!)
(**it's much easier to do cut-outs with firm chilled dough. If you find that the dough becomes too soft, refrigerate it again  before continuing.)

Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 180'C
- Roll out chilled ** cookie dough
- Cut out large/medium stars; use a smaller star cutter to cut out stars from their centres. Don't discard these small stars.
- Repeat with the other batch of cookie dough.
- Fit the alternate small stars into the centre of the large stars.

Place cookies onto cookie trays.
Gently press a little caster sugar into their surfaces before baking if you want a slightly sparkly appearance. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Bake for 10-12 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

May the stars watch over on you in 2019!

xxM