Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake

Wow. I was looking through my pictures, and I cannot believe how many recipes I have accumulated in almost a month back home! I just started putting together a weekly menu plan for us yesterday, and I may work towards sharing it on here once I get it more organized. I know that once I start my residency this summer that time will likely be a premium, and it will be nice to have dinner planned out ahead of time. One thing the menu plan made me realize is how many new recipes we're making every week. It is no wonder I'm racking up food pictures, and I better get busy sharing them!

It's been a couple months since I made this cheesecake, but haven't been able to post it before this as the recipe was at my house. One of my Christmas gifts this year was a cookbook all about cheesecakes. My husband wanted me to test it out as soon as possible, so I made this cheesecake in early January before I left to go back to school. I thought it would be great to share now as berries start coming into season throughout spring across the country, and this cheesecake would definitely be a great way to showcase them! 

 The taste of the cheesecake was great. We love cheesecake here, and this one was no different. I was a little disappointed in the appearance of it as there are cracks all over the top. I think there may be one of two reasons for this. One - I will admit that I am usually a little lazy with my water bath in that I put a pan of water on a lower rack in the oven rather than wrapping the pan with foil and baking the cheesecake directly in the water. This method has worked well for me in the past, so I don't know if this is my culprit. Two - The grocery store was almost out of regular cream cheese, so I had to substitute 2 blocks of Neufchatel cheese. In looking at the picture in the magazine again, the cheesecake in the photo is a little cracked, so maybe it just ends up that way.

Other than my forced cream cheese substitution, the only thing I did differently from the recipe was to double the blueberry sauce so that we had extra sauce to drizzle over the individual pieces. I love fruit sauces and having the extra blueberry flavor was great. I'm excited to see what other cheesecake recipes this book will bring. I will certainly have to "test out" the next cheesecake recipe from it sometime soon. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
Adapted from Taste of Home: Cheesecakes and More

Ingredients:
Blueberry Sauce:
3 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 - 1/2 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the berries)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. cold water

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 16 squares)
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Filling:
3 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs, lightly beaten

In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the berries are softened. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into the blueberry mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Use an immersion blender or transfer to a blender and process until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine the crumbs and sugar, stir in the butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Place the pan on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, flour, and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour filling over the crust. Drizzle with approximately half of the blueberry mixture. Cut through the batter with a knife to swirl. Return the pan to the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour or until the center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a plastic knife around the edge of the pan to loosen. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Just before serving remove the outer edge of the pan. Serve with additional blueberry sauce. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Blueberry