Red, White & Blues-berry

Finally, finally blueberries are coming in at the Farmers Market. The ones we picked up last weekend were so plump and sweet that by the time I saw this recipe for a blueberry cheesecake tart in the July issue of Everyday Food, the pint was half gone. And then as luck would have it — no blueberry guy at the market on Saturday! I ended up w/ Floridian blueberries from Trader Joe’s.

I’m generally cheesecake adverse — they take forever to bake, they crack and inevitably the texture isn’t quite right — too dry and dense, too creamy — just too much work. But this one, though it has 3 separate parts, is pretty easy. I don’t know that I’d call it an Everyday Food, but a weekend-day, sure.

First, cook up the plum mixture — Santa Rosa plums, a few raspberries (not in the recipe, I just had ’em around), sugar, lemon juice.

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, egg, sugar (I went a little light on the sugar here) and vanilla in the processor. Pour it into the graham cracker crust and bake it for 30 mins.

Reserve 1 T. of the plum mixture and mix the blueberries into it. Pour the rest of the plum mixture onto the cheesecake. Add the blueberries and you’re off to the races. The good news is any and all berries would be great w/ this plum sauce.

The recipe calls for regular block cream cheese — next time I’ll try Neufchatel instead of a light “spreadable” (but not whipped) cream cheese in a tub. It comes out on the creamier side because of the sour cream, but the Neufchatel may change it as well. Strawberries will also join blueberries on top.