Red, White and Blueberry Cobbler

Hope everyone is enjoying their 4th of July celebrations!  I know I am!  This is one of my most favorite holidays.  It's always a time for family... and food!  Or at least that's how it works in our family. 

This year we are enjoying a getaway at my parents' house and they live on a big beautiful river that we have been swimming and boating in all weekend.  And fishing!  Last night, the fish were jumping on the docks to get in our bellies.  We had a wonderful fish fry this evening and needed a special red, white, and blue dessert.  Here's what I came up with...

I'll apologize now for not having more photos.  I took bunches as I made this but as I finished watching all of the firework displays up and down the river, I realized that my cord to connect my camera to my laptop is at home.  Boo!  I snapped this shot with my phone earlier today so I'm sharing it now.  I would wait to share the recipe but this one cannot wait -- make it NOW!  It's worth it!

I had 2 pints of blueberries in the refrigerator and there's not much that we love more than cobbler.  I figured blueberry cobbler would be perfect.  But when's the last time I made something regular and expected for my family.  They are always willing to be guinea pigs when I want to try something new.  Last night, I was reading some other blogs and saw someone had make Lemon Blueberry cupcakes.  Is there a better flavor combination?  And what if I threw in some cream cheese?  I went to bed with yummy dreams last night and this morning I knew exactly what I wanted to try.

My aunt taught me to make cobbler many years ago with what we called the 'Cupa Cupa' method.  It was so easy to remember!  Melt a stick of butter in your pan, mix a cupa flour and a cupa sugar and a cupa milk and pour it over the melted butter.  Then top with fruit of your choice and bake.  Easy Peasy!

I used this basic idea but I added a few twists... of lemon, that is!  And a little cheesecake batter, just for fun!  I started by mixing up the cheesecake mixture -- just cream cheese, lemon zest, sugar, and eggs.  I preheated the oven and put my pan with a stick of butter in it into the oven as it preheated.  Why dirty up another dish to melt butter?  While that was going on, I heated my blueberries over medium heat with some sugar, lemon juice and zest.  They began to soften and bubble and smell so good!  I could have let them cool and eaten them all by myself!  My family better be glad that I love them!  I mixed the flour and sugar together in another bowl and then added milk with a splash of vinegar to make it curdle like buttermilk.  Why not?

So now for the good part...  Just pour the flour batter over the melted butter.  Then pour the fruit over that, then the cream cheese mixture over that.  That's all!  No stirring!  It went into the oven and came out perfect!  I hate to admit that I had two bowls of this.  But it was that good.

Oh!  And you may wonder why I'm calling this red, white and blue.  We topped each BLUEberry serving with WHITE vanilla icecream and RED strawberry whipped cream.  Festive!

Since I don't have anymore pictures to share now, here's the recipe... 

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Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cobbler

8 oz cream cheese, softened
zest of 1 lemon, divided
juice of 1 lemon
2 1/4 c sugar, divided
1 c self rising flour
1 c milk
1 tsp vinegar
2 pints fresh blueberries
2 eggs
1 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using an electric mixer on low, mix cream cheese, 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 of the lemon zest and 2 eggs until smooth.  Set aside.

Place stick of butter in 9x13 baker and place in oven to melt while mixing the rest of the ingredients.

In small saucepan, heat blueberries, 3/4 c sugar, lemon juice, and other 1/2 of lemon zest until berries start to soften and all sugar is dissolved in the juice.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix flour and 1 c sugar until blended.  Then add milk and vinegar.  Let it sit for about a minute so that the milk will curdle a little.  Blend everything together until smooth.

Pour batter over the melted butter.  Do not stir.  Top batter with blueberries and juice.  Then added cream cheese mixture in spoonfuls over the fruit.  Sprinkle with sugar and place in oven for 35-40 minutes.

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Optional: Strawberry Whipped Cream

8 oz heavy whipping cream

1/4 c strawberry preserves*

Use an electric mixture to whip the cream until stiff peaks begin to form.  Add preserves and beat until just mixed.

*I use my homemade strawberry freezer jelly -- made according to the directions found on the Ball freezer pectin.

I'm linking up at:
Melt in Your Mouth Mondays
This Week's Cravings
Nap Time Creations' Tasty Tuesday
Sugar and Dot's What I Whipped Up Wednesday
This Chick Cooks' These Chicks Cooked
Lady Behind the Curtain's Cast Party Wednesday
Daily Organized Chaos' Foodie Wednesday
Paisley Passions' Thrilling Thursday
Miz Helen's Country Cottage's Full Plate Thursday
Something Swanky's Sweet Treats Thursday
Around My Family Table's Turning the Table Thursday
Little Brick Ranch's Foodie Friday
Tidy Mom's I'm Lovin It
Simply Sweet Home's Friday Favorites
The Frugal Girls' Chic & Crafty Party
Alli n Son's Sweet Tooth Friday
Whipperberry's Friday Flair
Sweet As Sugar Cookie's Sweets for Saturday
Six Sister's Stuff's Strut Your Stuff Saturday
A Well Seasoned Life's Sweet Indulgences Sunday
Bizzy B Bakes' Baking with Bizzy
Recipe Sharing Monday

Birthday Surprise

A wonderful friend and co-worker had a birthday this week and I wanted to surprise her with a little something sweet.  As I surveyed my kitchen to see what I had around, I saw the yummiest local strawberries and blueberries that had just been delivered to our house.  We are lucky enough to live in an area where we can have local produce delivered to our door each week!  I knew I wanted to use the berries, but to make what?

Can you guess where I'm going with these beauties???

YES!  A berry swirl cheesecake.  Usually I would cover a cracked cheesecake like this up with a lovely ganache but not this one  I love the cracks that show just a hint of the berry goodness waiting in this dessert.  It just makes me want to jump right in!

So, we did...

You can see the layer of fruit along the bottom and the top has my homemade strawberry freezer jelly swirled through a lemon cheesecake filling.  So dreamy!

Needless to say, it was a sweet birthday celebration for everyone who joined us to wish an awesome girl a happy day!

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Berry Swirl Cheesecake

1 package of graham crackers

4 tbsp butter, room temperature

4 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 c sugar

3 1/4 tbsp all purpose flour, divided

1/2 tbsp double-strength pure vanilla extract

4 eggs, room temperature

1/2 c sour cream, room temperature

zest of 1 lemon

1 c fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half

1/2 c fress blueberries

6 tbsp strawberry preserves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray springform pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour.  Line sides of pan with 2 strips of parchment paper. 

Place graham crackers, broken in half, into food processor.  Pulse until all of the crackers are crumbed.  Add butter and pulse until all butter is cut into the cracker crumbs.  Pour into the prepared pan and press into bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Bake for 9 minutes or until golden.  Cool on cooling rack while preparing strawberries and blueberries. 

Arrange the strawberry halves in a single layer on top of the cooled crust.  Then add the blueberries on top of the strawberry layer.

In mixer, with paddle attachment, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and 3 tbsp flour on medium speed until well blended.  Add vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time and mix on low speed until each is incorporated.  Don't forget to scrape the sides of the mixer as needed.  Add sour cream and mix just until blended. 

In a small bowl, combine lemon zest and 1/4 tbsp flour.  Add this to the filling mixture and fold in by hand.

Pour filling into pan over the fruit.  Drop spoonfuls of the preserves over the top of the filling and use a spoon to swirl into filling.  Do not over mix as you want the swirled appearance created.  Use spoon to smooth the surface once preserves are incorporated.

Bake for 65-80 minutes or until center appears nearly set when shaken.  Place on cooling rack until completely cool.  Refrigerate over night.

This recipe is linked up over at Melt In Your Mouth Mondays!

Now linked up at These Chicks Cooked, too!

And at Sweet as Sugar Cookies' Sweets for Saturday