And just like that, I'm back with oh-you-really-have-to-make-this blueberry swirl cheesecake bars!
Seriously, I mean it. Make it and thank me later.
Let's go!
Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning at no extra cost to you, I will get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Everything I mention in this post is what I personally use and recommend.
Creamy Cheesecake Bars
Yes, and super creamy is the appropriate word.
Imagine luscious creamy cheese texture against your lips as you bite into these wonderful cheesecake bars. Imagine the taste of coconuty crust with that hint of lemon, the sweet and wonderful tangy taste of the blueberry coulis, all in one heaven bite. Close your eyes and imagine, if that's going to help.
Oh yeaaaaah!
Can you tell I'm excited about this?
If you've been around our website for a while then you'd know that everybody loves our cheesecakes around here. And I'm so excited (yes, I'm repeating the word, I know) to share this recipe with you today!
Tips To Have A Perfect Baked Cheesecake
I've been sharing tips on how to get it right when it comes to baked cheesecakes and no worries, I'm going to share them again here with you so that your cheesecake will come out perfect.
Just read and follow my tips below.
Less is more - whisk as little as you can when you're mixing the ingredients. Over whisking/mixing will incorporate too much air into the batter and that's what is going to create cracks when we bake the cheesecake later.
Use low speed - use the lowest speed on your electric hand whisk when you're mixing. I use speed 1 in mine. If you're whisking it with a hand whisk, then don't go crazy. Remember, we don't want to incorporate air into the batter.
Low oven temperature - ok this is subjective. Every oven is made differently. Mine is not the same as yours, obviously. To get a precise internal oven temperature, I always use an oven thermometer like this one. And for baked cheesecakes, we want the temperature to be low. Baking it at a high temperature will make it crack.
Ingredients temperature - when I give out recipes I always specify the temperature of ingredients unless it doesn't matter. So if I specify cream cheese at room temperature, make sure you use the same. You might not think that's important but it is. Having certain ingredients at room temperature will make it easier to be mix/whisk and whatnots. And when they're easier to mix, then it means less whisking, then it means less air incorporated in the batter. See what I mean?
Blueberry Coulis
Don't get intimidated about this. There's nothing complicated about making this blueberry coulis.
You basically throw all of the ingredients and cook them on medium heat until the blueberries start to break down. I like to mash my blueberries because I love the finer texture. You don't need to do this, if you don't mind. I just thought that the coulis would look smoother like this.
Also, I didn't use all of my coulis. When I tested this recipe, I used it all and I find the final look turned out to be a tad overcrowded. If you don't mind then by all means use it all.
I really hope you'd give this a try. Let me know what you think!
In Summary
These blueberry swirl cheesecake bars are:
- a must try if you're a cheesecake lover, no excuse!
- super creamy, luscious with coconuty lemony base and sweet tangy blueberry coulis
- is actually very easy to make, with just typical ingredients
- perfect for gatherings and when you want to wow your guests
- come on, they're just SUPER DELICIOUS!
Looking For More Blueberry Recipes?
Video
Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
The Blueberry Coulis
- 1 cup blueberry (150 g)
- ¼ cup sugar (50 g)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
The Base
- 1 ½ cup digestive biscuits crumbs (150 g)
- ¾ cup unsweetened desiccated coconut (60 g)
- zest of 1 lemon
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter (80 g), melted
The Cheesecake Filling
- 16 oz full fat cream cheese (450 g), room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup sour cream (285 g), room temperature
- 1 cup sugar (200 g)
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour (24 g)
- 1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs , room temperature
Instructions
The Blueberry Coulis
- Add all of the ingredients into a pan and bring it to a simmer on medium heat. Continue simmering for 5 minutes of until the blueberries start to break down and the sauce thickens. Using a spatula, mash them into fine texture.
- Heat off, pour coulis into a bowl and set aside to cool completely before using.
The Base
- Mix everything well and pour the mixture into a 9 inch (23 cm) square pan that has been buttered and lined with a parchment paper. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
The Cheesecake Filling
- Put cream cheese into another bowl and using a hand held mixer, whisk just until it gets creamy. Now add in sour cream, sugar, all purpose flour, lemon juice, vanilla extract and mix everything well. Set aside.
- Break the eggs into a different bowl and lightly whisk them. Pour the eggs into the cream cheese mixture and using a spatula, fold and mix everything together. Pour the mixture into our prepared pan and spread evenly using an offset spatula.
- Now spoon the blueberry coulis randomly on top. Make swirls and then gently shake the pan to even out the top surface.
- Bake in a preheated oven (no fan) at 285ºF (140ºC) for 55 minutes or until the surrounding has set but the center still wiggle when you gently shake the pan. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Then chill in the fridge for min 8 hours before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
- Note: please refer to my tips above on how to prevent the cheesecake from cracking.
Hi. I am not a fan of coconut of any kind. Can I omit this from the recipe.
Hi Joyce! Yes, you can. Just add another 1/2 cup of biscuit crumbs (50 g) instead. Hope it helps!
Hi! My cheesecake was a hit! Everyone loves it. It's velvety and I love the combination of digestive biscuit and coconut. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
What would be the baking time and temperature if my oven is fan assisted? Thank you.
Reduce the temperature by 30 degree (using portable oven thermometer helps, I use it also). See step number 8 to look for the sign that it's cooked. Hope it helps!
Hello! Can this recipe be made in a 9-icnh cake pan without any adjustments? Also, is there a reason why there's only 450 grams of cream cheese here? Most recipes I've seen suggest using around 900 grams with all the other ingredients being pretty much the same as they are in your recipe. But maybe that's because I've been making cakes instead of cheesecake bars.
Hi Dan! 9 inch round cake pan has less volume than 9 inch square pan, so depending on the height of your pan, you might have extra filling. As for the amount of cream cheese, I can't say about other people's recipes but I love to combine the cream cheese with sour cream/greek yogurt for the texture and flavour. And also, bars tend to be shorter in height than cakes, so less ingredients in general. Hope it helps!
Thanks for the quick reply! I'll check how your recipe works out with a cake pan and report back then.
Alright, so I did make this recipe in a 9-inch cake pan with several adjustments. First, I used 800 grams of cream cheese instead of 450 purely because I had that much lying around in the fridge. I've added roughly the same amount of sour cream, so I imagine the texture of my cheesecake was different from the recipe. Though I still found it smooth and delicious.
I didn't change any of the other proportions, which turned out to be a problem when it came to the biscuit base. It was a bit too thick for my taste--probably because the cake pan doesn't have as much room as a square pan. I'd advice to cut down the amount of ingredients for the base by 30% or so if you're using a cake pan. The coconut/lemon zest didn't do much for me here, and I much prefer a regular biscuit base. However, another person loved the coconut addition, and another was indifferent, so I'll leave this up to personal taste.
Another personal taste thing is the lemon juice. I liked how it tasted in the blueberry coulis, but it was a bit of an overkill when I added 1,5 tbsp to the filling. Still, another person was satisfied with the lemony taste, so I'll chalk this up to a matter of personal preference.
Overall, I loved the recipe, and I found the blueberry coulis to be a great addition to the regular cheesecake formula. Hopefully, Bea will forgive me for straying away from the recipe and experimenting a bit!
Hi Dan! Yeay you made it 🙌! Well for me cooking and baking is always an expression of personal art or creativity. That's the fun of it, right? I'm glad that you did it your own way with the guidance of this recipe (no apology needed!). I'm always encouraging my readers to adjust to their likings, where it makes sense, I mean. Thank you for giving this recipe a try and leaving your feedback. Do check around for more cheesecake recipes here. Have a nice day ahead!
Just realized I forgot to rate the recipe, so hopefully commenting to add a rating won't be considered too too spammy. And thanks, Bea, will definitely check out other recipes on the site!
Sorry for the late reply. And no, there's no such thing as spamming when rating a recipe. Thank you so much Dan! 😊
Amazing recipe. Thank you. Made it for my mum’s birthday. She rarely raves but she said I should start selling. 😊
Awesome! I'm glad to hear that Krish! Thank you so much! 🙌❤️
After painfully waiting for a day after making this cheesecake, oh my word, this is out of this world delicious. The texture is marvelous, thick and silky smooth at the same time. I had to exercise my greatest will power not to eat the whole thing at once. Now I am very tempted to make this my Christmas or New Year's Eve dessert.
Thank you for the clearly detailed and the well constructed recipe.
Ended up making this cake for a picnic and it was a huge success! nothing left to take home 🙂
Yeay! I'd take it that everybody loved it, right 😁. Thank you Netta! 😍
This recipe looks amazing! My oven is fan forced. Do i need to change the temperature of my fan oven in order to make this cake?
Thank you !
Yes, lower 25-30 degree more if you're using fan-forced oven. Hope it helps and have fun making it!
Hi Bea,
It’s quite difficult to get sour cream or greek yoghurt at my place. What other alternative ingredient can I use to replace those pls?
Hi Berry, I haven't tried but you can try with heavy cream. Let me know how it goes.
Hi there, can I use strawberry instead of Burberry with this recipe? I made one with Burberry and it’s so delicious. So I wonder if I can make with strawberry too.
Yes, of course. Why not 😊.
Hiya! I'm just wondering, can this be made in mini muffin silicone moulds? Will it pop out clean?
Hi! I've never tried but I'm thinking maybe if you freeze it for a while then it'd pop out clean.
Hello Bea,
Is a water bath necessary while baking this cheesecake??
Thanks in advance 😘.
Hi Rachel! No, water bath is not needed for this as we're using a very low temperature. Please refer to my post above on how to get it right, hope it helps.
What is the purpose of egg in this recipe??How can i replace egg in this recipe as i don’t eat egg?
Eggs act as the binder and adds creaminess to the cheesecake. I haven't tried it without eggs, sorry though.
Hi again Bea,
Just want to let you know that I made this blueberry cheesecake yesterday for Ied celebration with my family and it was a big hit. My brother in law was visiting ....minding the social distance rule of course, to greet us and shared some slices with him to take away. This morning he phoned to say 'I want the recipe now!' LOL. Soooo I think I need to send you a big thanks again! Next, I will try to bake your oat bread, the one without yeast. I'll let you know how it turn up. Take care now x
Haha! Well that's super great! I'm happy to know that everybody loved it. Have fun with the oat bread, hope you'll like it as much as I do. Thank you Eurica, stay safe!
Hi Bea,
I absolutely love the cheesecakes recipes you share. I attempted recreating your chocolate and mango cheesecake recipes with some of my own improvisations and they turned out heavenly. I'm a lot bolder with baking now and will be attempting your blueberry lemon cheesecake bars next. Thank you for all that you do ❤️
Would love to see you churn out some alternative gluten free and naturally sweetened options for cheesecakes.
Hi Amritha! I'm happy to know that you put your own twist in it, they're amongst my fav cheesecakes! Hope you'll like this one too. Thank you and yes, I've been thinking of making a healthier cheesecake for quite a while now 😉
Hi Bae, how much quantity should I add up if I use a slightly bigger size of pan?
Hi there!! Your recipes look just anazing. I want to try this one. Can I use mixed frozen fruits for coulis or strawberries instead of Blueberries?
Thanks xxx
Hi! Yes you can, just cook them longer so that the coulis is not too runny. Check the consistency in the video above. Hope it helps 🙂
Thanks a lot dear Bea for your prompt reply xxx
Hi Bea, if im not using desiccated coconut, should i increase the biscuit crumbs by another 60g? Or simply leave it at 150g?
Hi Alex! Just add 50g more of biscuit crumbs. Use same amount of butter. Hope it helps.
Hi Bea! sour cream is not easily available here. What can i use instead?
Hi Someyyah! I've not tried it yet but perhaps you could use full fat Greek yogurt. Hope it helps.
Dear Bea, I am following you since a while and I can say that I liked all your recipes, even if I didn't try them so far, due to lack of time ( lately) .
I like to cook so, I just know when something is good or not, just by watching how it's made and what the ingredients are. You are doing a great job! Thank you for your patience and dedication to share your skills!
The minute I will manage to make some of them, I will definitely let you know my feedback.
All the best and good luck, further on !
Hi Diana! Thank you for your kind words, well wishes and support 😍, they make both of us determine to do even better. Yes, of course do let me know when you've made some recipes. This one in particular is very addictive to me, I couldn't stop spooning a bite(s) 🤣🤣🤣. Have a wonderful day ahead Diana!