This Blueberry Cream Cheese Bar recipe combines cheesecake taste with sweet blueberry filling and a buttery shortbread crust and topping—so good.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
These blueberry squares are perfect for a dessert, brunch, bring-a-dish parties, or snack. Think of them as blueberry cheesecake squares with a sweet buttery shortbread crust and crumbly top. So good with the creamy cheesecake filling, blueberries, and an incredible sweet-crunchy topping.
This is an easy recipe using common ingredients with simple step-by-step photo instructions. And you can adjust the recipe size to your needs.
See other delicious bar recipes like Cheesecake Bars and Lemon Bars. Also, check out other easy blueberry recipes like Baked Blueberry Pancakes, Blueberry Cobbler, Blueberry Muffins, Blueberry Crumb Pie, and Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.
Loosely inspired by Grandbaby Cakes for Blueberry Crumble Bars, but I combined it with two other recipes and have an exceptional treat for you.
🫐Ingredients
- Base and topping
- Butter
- Egg
- Pantry ingredients—flour, sugar, baking powder, salt
- Blueberry Mixture
- Blueberries—fresh (preferred) or frozen
- Sugar
- Corn starch
- Cream Cheese Mixture
- Cream cheese
- Sugar
- Egg
👨🍳How to Make Blueberry Cream Cheese Bars
- Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and egg. Cut butter into the mixture until crumbly.
- Press half of the crumble mixture into a buttered baking dish. Bake to firm up some for 8 minutes.
- Clean blueberries and mix them with cornstarch and sugar.
- In another bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and egg—beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture over the baked crust, add the blueberries, and lastly, with the rest of the crumble.
- Bake until nicely browned—about 40 minutes.
- Cool in a refrigerator for at least 2 hours and longer, if possible, before cutting.
↕️How to make this a smaller "for two friendly" or "family size" recipe
- .Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings to half or double.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not change.
- Where you get half an egg, use an egg white instead.
- Use the baking dish size discussed in the section below.
- Cook is a bit less for smaller and more for a double recipe. Cook until the color is right.
📏Baking dish sizes for a half, full, or double recipe
A full recipe uses an 8X8, 9X9, or 9 inches round baking dish. A double-size recipe fits nicely in a 9X13 cake pan. kF
For a half recipe, the size of the baking dish is a problem. It must be at least 1 inch deep and have a total surface area of about 25-30 square inches. No standard baking dish fits. A round dish of about 6-inch diameter will work, like some Corning-ware™, and I have some rectangular dishes that work.
❓FAQs
Since fruit lay is like a pie filling, fruit like cherries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, or peaches should work.
The main variables of different fruit will be the sweetness and the amount of fluid they release. Frozen fruit will release even more fluid. So you will need to adjust the sugar and the cornstarch some.
Start with a good coat of butter on the pan. I like to use a glass baking dish for this recipe. If all other things fail for you, a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan always works.
The cream cheese can not be stored safely at room temperature.
Store in an airtight container refrigerated for 2-3 days. They will freeze well tightly wrapped in a freezer for 3-4 months.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat oven to 375° conventional, not convection.
Start by coating an 8X8 baking dish with butter. Dice 1 stick (½ cup) of butter. Mix 2 cups flour, ¾ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 egg, and the butter.
Cut the butter into the mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until crumbly. A food processor may be used.
Press half of the crumble mixture into the buttered dish. Bake to firm up some for 8 minutes.
While the base is baking, clean and dry 1 pint of fresh blueberries, add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and ½ cup sugar—stir to coat. You may use frozen blueberries but increase the cornstarch to 3 teaspoons.
Combine 8 oz of cream cheese, ½ cup sugar, and 1 egg. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
Top the cooled crust with the cream cheese mixture, the blueberries, and the rest of the crumble.
Bake until nicely browned—about 40 minutes. Cool in a refrigerator for at least 2 hours before cutting.
📖 Recipe
Blueberry Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
Base and topping
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Blueberry Mixture
- 1 pint blueberries - fresh or frozen
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon corn starch - increase to 3 teaspoons if frozen berries
Cream Cheese Mixture
- 8 oz cream cheese
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° conventional, not convection.
- Start by coating an 8X8 baking dish with butter. Dice 1 stick (½ cup) of butter. Mix 2 cups of flour, ¾ cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, ¼ teaspoon of salt, 1 egg, and the butter.
- Cut the butter into the mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until crumbly. A food processor may be used.
- Press half of the crumble mixture into the buttered dish. Bake to firm up some for 8 minutes.
- While the base is baking, clean and dry 1 pint of fresh blueberries, add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and ½ cup sugar—stir to coat. You may use frozen blueberries but increase the cornstarch to 3 teaspoons.
- Combine 8 oz of cream cheese, ½ cup sugar, and one egg. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
- Top the cooled crust with the cream cheese mixture, the blueberries, and the rest of the crumble.
- Bake until nicely browned—about 40 minutes. Cool in a refrigerator for at least 2 hours before cutting.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- This is for an 8X8, 9X9, or 9 inches round baking dish. For instruction on increasing or decreasing the size is this recipe, see the discussion in the post.
- The serving size I’m using is about 2X2 but vary to your needs.
- You can use frozen or fresh blueberries. Other berries should work fine, but I have not tested them.
- Be sure to cool for 2 hours prior to cutting,
- Store airtight and refrigerated for 2-3 days. It will be good frozen for 3-4 months.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
Editor's Note: Originally Published September 7, 2015. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Elaine Perea
I wanted to let you know that I made these in muffin tins. I used jumbo liners so the paper was higher than the edge of the tins. Worked out well, and tidy for a camping trip! I only had one egg, so I used a "flax egg" in the crust, and it set up well. Thanks for a great recipe!
Becky
Great recipe! Combines two favorites - blueberry crumb bars and blueberry cream cheese bars. I beat the egg with a bit of vanilla before adding it to the crust and a bit in the cream cheese. Also use half brown sugar in crust and add a dash of cinnamon. Delicious!
DrDan
I love crumble toppings. While this recipe was a bit more work than normal for me, it is well worth it. Also, I'm a lot faster doing it when I don't take pictures.
Thanks so the note.
Dan
Leslie
I made these with a few modifications, added 1/4 tsp of almond flavoring to the base/topping mixture & mixed approx 1/3 cup of blanched chopped almonds with the topping part of mixture. Also, added 1 tsp of lemon zest and 1 tsp of lemon juice with blue berry mixture and 1 tsp of vanilla flavoring with the cream cheese mixture.
Good luck with your changes at work, hope to see some old favorite recipes and new ones soon. Thanks again for all your recipes