Blueberry Cheesecake

A beautiful dessert for the start of Spring. This cheesecake is a favourite with my family and we pretend it is a healthy dessert with all the blueberries. I used four teaspoons of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, however, taste the filling before baking and add more cinnamon and vanilla to suit your taste.

It is a bit messy to cut as the filling is soft and the blueberries stain. It is not a problem to me, although, you could wipe the knife clean on paper towel each time you cut.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Base 2 tablespoons butter, melted 250 g butternut snap biscuit crumbs (or other plain biscuits) Additional butter for greasing Blueberry Topping 3 punnets blueberries(375g) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/4 cup sugar

Cheesecake Filling 500 gm cream cheese at room temperature 300 ml sour cream 2 - 4 teaspoons vanilla 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 cup caster sugar 2 eggs (2 egg yolks plus 1 egg)

Method

Place oven rack in centre of oven; heat to 150C.

Crumb Base

Grease the sides and bottom of an 8/9 inch (20-22cm) spring form pan evenly with a little butter. Line the base with baking parchment making sure the paper does not come up the sides of the tin, cut the paper a little smaller than the base. The light greasing of butter will stop the paper moving around as you press the base into the tin.

Combine melted butter with biscuits crumbs.

Press crumbs gently into the bottom of the tin.

Place pan in fridge until the filling is made. This helps set the crumbs.

Cheesecake filling

Cut cream cheese into small pieces; place in food processor or large mixer bowl.

Beat at medium speed, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until completely smooth.

Add sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Process or beat until mixture is smooth.

Add sour cream and eggs to cheese mixture; pulse or beat at medium speed until blended. Do not over beat the mixture as you will make too many air bubbles.

Pour batter into the tin. Tap the tin gently on the bench and allow it to sit for a little while so that any air bubbles can come to the surface and be broken.

Bake the cheesecake until the sides of cake are set 5 cm in from edges and the centre is still wobbly/pudding like, about 45 minutes in a 9 inch tin, longer for the 8 inch. Turn oven off and let the cheesecake stand in oven with door propped open for 30 minutes.

Transfer pan to wire rack away from drafts. Let cool undisturbed until sides and bottom of pan are completely cooled to room temperature.

Blueberry Topping

Combine 1 punnet of the blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in a food processer and blitz.

Pour the blueberry mixture into a small saucepan and simmer on low heat until the mixture is slightly reduced and syrupy. Add remaining blueberries.

Carefully spoon the topping over the cheesecake and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.