Little Ivy Cakes

THE BLUES
Blueberries will be going out of season shortly, so blueberry-up... before the rush of Fall goodies come skipping in.

1. Blueberry "pizza"

2. Blueberry Cheesecake Squares
3. Blueberry Salsa

Last night, after dinner, I NEEDED something dessert-ish to complete my evening-you know how it is right. :)
So, I searched my cupboards and fridge to see what I could scrounge up real quick.

Ended up with a blueberry...uh...for a lack of a better word....pizza. I don't want to say "pizza" because I believe pizza should only describe an Italian dish with tomato sauce, melted cheese, and veggie/meat toppings. But, this was a fruit pizza-that's all I can say. A cookie bar would be thicker and this was a thin shortbread crust with fruit on top.
Here's what I did for the
BLUEBERRY "PIZZA": *no pic, sorry*
-Press shortbread dough(for dough recipe, see below) thinly on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and greased. Press into a round or any shape you want.

-Then drizzle honey and sprinkle chopped blueberries, minced apricots, and small pieces of chopped white chocolate
-Squeeze some lime juice
-Sprinkle lime zest and little butter pieces with a little more honey
-Bakes 350F for 10-15 minutes.

You will have a wonderful crunchy crust with yummy fruit on top-which, of course, calls fro vanilla ice cream to accompany it.

After making my fruit pizza, I thought it would be even better with a layer of cheesecake... so I made the cheesecake bars...

The cheesecake idea didn't make my pizza better per say...it just was a completely different thing all together that was also very good. I think I liked the fruit pizza a bit better because it was simple to make, not too rich, and went really well with a refreshing scoop of vanilla ICE CREAM!!!

The cheesecake bars held their own though, I must say, they were a very good summer dessert. Rich yet not too think cheesecake, dense yet buttery delicious crust, and the fruit on top. Everyone who tried them ended up having two squares so, they were a hit.
BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE SQUARES

Start with a....
Shortbread Base
(keep this base recipe because you can use it for a lot of different things)

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup soft butter
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
Pinch salt

-Preheat oven to 350F
-Cream butter, sugar, and some lime zest until fluffy

-Add egg and vanilla until creamy, fluffy

-Gradually add flour and salt until soft and mushy, creamy, fluffy

-Grease a 9x5 square pan, then line with parchment paper with paper sticking up from the sides of the pan, then grease paper.

-Press the shortbread dough 1/4 inch, or even thinner, into the pan until flat and smooth using hands or a tool. (Pressing down with the bottom of a glass won't really work as the dough kinda' sticks the the bottom of the glass.)

-Bake the shortbread until golden brown (15 minutes) and take out of oven
-Turn heat down to 280F

Then the cheesecake filling ( make this while your shortbread is baking)
1 1/2 pack(12 oz)Cream Cheese, Soft
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 sugar
3 eggs
tbsp lime zest
Lime juice of half a lime
1 tsp. vanilla

-Mix cheeses until smooth as can be

-Add eggs( one at a time), lime zest and juice, and vanilla until well blended
-Add flour and mix.
-pour cheesecake batter over the warm baked crust.....

-Sprinkle some frozen wild blueberries into cheesecake batter and lightly swirl around with a small spatula.

-Bake cheesecake for 35 minutes, then take out of oven(keep oven on though)

then finish up and make the BLUEBERRY topping
1 cup fresh blueberries, coarsely chopped
1 -2 cups frozen wild blueberries (I got mine from Trader Joe's) :)
3 Mediterranean apricots, minced
1 square white chocolate, coarsely chopped into smallish pieces
2 tbsp lime zest
1-2 tbsp Lime juice
Honey to drizzle
Coarse sugar to sprinkle
1 table spoon thyme leaves to sprinkle

-Top with blueberries, white chocolate, dried apricots, and thyme
- Drizzle honey over everything
-Squeeze some lime juice over the fruit
Sprinkle lime zest and coarse sugar( Sugar in the Raw)

-Put back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
-let cool for a while and then put in fridge to cool at least 2 hours. I left mine overnight.
-Then slice into squares by putting a large knife under hot water and patting dry with a paper towel each time you slice. This will help the knife from dragging through your cheesecake and making the squares look messy.

I am telling you...... it's Yum!

Blueberried out yet? this is nothing compared to a fellow blogger, who did recipes on figs all week long. They were so amazingly brilliant though. If you feel like checking it out- Click on these words. I love Clumbsy Cookie!

Blueberry SalsaGetting back to blueberry. I made this great blueberry salsa. I was skeptical at first but , this salsa ended up being really amazing. I know I will make it many times to come-only when blueberries are in season though. I got this recipe from My Own Sweet Thyme HERE. Lisa always makes great stuff, you have to go visit her blog. :)


Doesn't this salsa look good! Lisa has a better picture on her blog though.

Have a wonderful day!THE END!