Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

For the last recipe I really wanted to find a blueberry cheesecake recipe. I looked in all of my cookbooks and couldn't find one. I rarely ever resort to searching on-line for recipes unless referred to a recipe on-line from a reliable source. (I've just had way too many on-line recipe disasters.) So I found a recipe in Our Best Bites cookbook for Strawberry Cheesecake Bars and decided, "Why wouldn't this work for blueberries?" PS. It did! And it was fabulous! Just exactly what I was looking for.

I have enjoyed this blueberry experiment. I may do it again sometime with some other ingredient. It reminds me of Iron Chef. I love the idea of taking one ingredient and turning it into so many different things. I just will never try to do it all in one hour. That would be stressful.

I apologize for the terrible pictures. While I am a good cook, I am not a great photographer, and I lack the equipment to make these dishes look as beautiful as they really turn out to be.

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
(or I guess you are welcome to re-substitute strawberries and it would turn out as the author planned, that's up to you)

1 (16 oz) package of Pecan Sandies Cookies, divided
1 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted
11 oz cream cheese, softened (not low-fat) (I used low-fat, tasted fine. Delicious even)
2 eggs
2/3 c. sugar
pinch salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 c. sour cream (I also used low-fat sour cream)
1 1/4 c. blueberry sauce (blueberry syrup recipe works, jams, pie filling... whatever you have that is blueberry-ish or I guess strawberry-ish)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Spray 9x13x2 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a food processor, process 3/4 of the pecan sandies (reserve 6 cookies). Mix with melted butter and lightly press onto the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine cream cheese, eggs sugar, salt, vanilla, almond extract, and sour cream. Beat on high for 4-5 minutes. Spread half of the cheesecake batter onto the bottom of prepared pan.
4. Pour 3/4 c. blueberry sauce over the batter, spreading gently to cover the surface (it doesn't have to be perfect). Spread remaining cheesecake batter over the blueberry layer and then spoon remaining 1/2 cup of blueberry sauce over the batter. Being careful not to cut into the surface of the cookie crust, swirl the strawberry mixture with a butter knife.
5. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until center is jiggly but not liquid. While baking, process remaining 6 cookies. During the last 10 minutes of baking, sprinkle the cookies on top of the cheesecake. Chill for at least 8 hours and cut into squares. If desired, drizzle remaining blueberry sauce over the individual squares.

*Just as a note, don't try and serve this hot or fresh. It really needs the chilling process to be very good.