Every year my mother makes desserts for several holiday parties. Since most people in my family have a sweet tooth, there is never a lack of desserts at our potluck style gatherings. But my mom's desserts are always a hit. Usually she tries to experiment every year, which occasionally (or normally) results in multiple dishes for each party. However, there's one dessert that stands above the rest, the infamous "blueberry cheesecake."
There have been complaints from people if they didn't get this dessert. Jealous rivalries between respective parties that one got the cheesecake and not the other. She even got complaints when we decided to go to Vegas for the holidays, not because we weren't coming, but because the cheesecake wasn't. Eventually, my mom started making the blueberry cheesecake for
every holiday party we attended.
What is more surprising than my family's obsession with this dish, is how easy it is to make. So when I moved to Illinois, I knew I had to take the recipe with me. You don't discard a winner like this. Below is the exact recipe that she gave me, and it's delicious.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Shortbread "Cheesecake"
Shortbread Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
½ cup walnuts, chopped (original recipe called for 2 cups, but I cut it down)
2 sticks butter
Pie Filling:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 packages Philadelphia Cream Cheese (don’t use fat free ones!)
1 half pint whipping cream milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 can blueberry filling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, F.
Shortbread crust: Mix flour and butter together, then add in the powdered sugar and chopped nuts. Spread evenly in a 9” x 13” baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 29 minutes. Cool in refrigerator for ½ hour.
Filling: Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar, gradually add whipping cream and vanilla. Spread mixture onto shortbread and refrigerate for 2 hours. Add blueberry filling over cream cheese. (I like to refrigerate filling, then ½ way add the blueberry topping, then refrigerate again). Cut and serve!
The great part about this "cheesecake" (I keep it in quotation marks because it's not really cheesecake) is that the "cheesecake" part is fool-proof. No baking, no cracking and no water bath. Just creamy deliciousness. Plus, you can make it ahead of time and it's even better the next day for breakfast. Enjoy!
-Akemi-chan
