The Ultimate Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars Are Dessert Perfection

Creamy lemon blueberry cheesecake bars with a buttery crust are bright, tangy, easy, and perfect for summer gatherings, or any sweet cravings!

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Do you just adore blueberries? How about blueberries and lemon? And I can do you one up on that by adding delicious cheesecake and a cookie crust. Now there you have a combination that begs for a detour to the blueberry farm down the road to load up on those delicious berries. Be sure to get double so you can eat a few handfuls on the way home. Then get into the kitchen and start baking, there is no time to waste! Soon you’ll be rewarded with one of the best summer cakes ever! So let’s not linger and get started!

If you like cheese desserts, be sure to try my German Cheesecake Recipe or a fresh, no-bake Strawberry Quark Cheese Mousse and an Orange Quark Dessert. And if you like to make some great, very easy cheese, which you can use for this recipe, check out this homemade Probiotic Quark Recipe or cheat and make ‘quick quark’ also called Queso Fresco, which you can make from scratch in less than an hour.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake

I’m wild about berries, and especially blueberries. When I lived in New Hampshire, there were several U-pick farms right nearby where I would go pick them at a good price.

Then in Washington, I lived right in the middle of several big commercial blueberry and raspberry operations with packing houses where my kids earned a few bucks during summer vacation packing berries that were shipped all throughout the country. 

I didn’t buy those berries though. Because I watched as trucks loaded with big white chemical containers drove up and down the isles spraying nasty things that I stung my sinuses and made my eyes itch when driving past. And crop dusters flew over the fields several times, even on mornings of harvesting days. No thank you!

But there was a wonderful organic pick-your-own blueberry farm on my way home from work with the nicest people operating it and I’d stop at least once a week during the blueberry season. They offered 8 varieties from early to late bearing, and so the season lasted a long time. Good for me!

I’d go picking a bucket full, eat a good amount on my drive home and eat handfuls each day till they were gone and I’d have to get some more. Plus I made lots of delicious blueberry desserts, wine, jam, ice cream, and more.

Well, now here in Missouri, there aren’t any blueberry farms around, and my new plants here are just babies yet, but my awesome neighbor let me pick a big bowl full in her garden and so I could make one of my favorite desserts, which I’ll be sharing here with you! And if you love blueberries, lemon, and cheesecake as much as I do, you’ll be thrilled with this dessert!

Why You’ll Love Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

• They taste out-of-this-world delicious!

• They are full of healthy ingredients (let’s forget about the sugar for a moment here), such as antioxidants, vitamin C, high protein, calcium, and healthy fats.

• You can choose healthier sweeteners, and these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars are not overly sweet either.

• Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars taste wonderfully blueberry.

• They have a melt-in-your-mouth cheesecake layer

• They are delicious enough for special occasions.

• Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars are perfect for satisfying your everyday sweet tooth too. 

Substitutions

I love using my homemade quark for desserts. Making quark is easy, it just takes a bit of patience and some planning ahead, and I’ll teach you with easy steps how to do it in my How To Make Quark Cheese article. 

In Germany quark is available in every grocery store and making desserts and other foods with quark is as convenient there, as making cream cheese dishes here. But unfortunately, it is not easy to find quark in America or many other countries outside of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. 

But there are cheeses available here in America that can work as a substitute for quark. You’ll want to get low salt versions so your cake doesn’t taste salty in the end and if your substitute is salted, I’d not add any extra salt in the recipe, except for a pinch to get your egg whites whipped well, or add the lemon juice to the egg whites when whipping them. 

Having said this, I want to say that quark really can’t be replaced exactly, because it has its unique flavor, texture, and other properties. So if you can get quark, be sure to use it in this recipe. But as with many things, substitutions work just fine, they just will yield a slightly different result from one to another, but it will still yield super delicious cheesecake. 

Here are a few things you can substitute for Quark: 

Greek Yogurt. This is very similar to quark except it is cultured at higher temperatures, which alters the taste and gives it a different structure. 

Cottage Cheese. This is the closest to quark that I can think of. If you can, get a low salt version and I believe that it is also available with no salt in some places. That would be even better. When using cottage cheese, you might have to use a stick blender to break up the curds and make it creamy. 

Farmer’s cheese. I hear this is available in some ethnic stores and is sold as a Russian tvorog. It is a bit drier than cottage cheese or quark, but would work as well. Be sure to beat it creamy before adding it to the recipe, but I’m not sure about the salt content in this one. 

Ricotta Cheese. Ricotta cheese can work in this recipe as well.

Queso Fresco. Commercial queso fresco is usually salted, but you can easily make Queso Fresco in your kitchen with regular pasteurized milk. It takes about 15 minutes to make and half an hour to let it drain before using it in this recipe. I like to call this quick quark. It’s not probiotic, but since we’re baking with it, that would not be important. 

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Recipe

I recommend using organic ingredients if possible. Blueberries are on the EWG’s dirty dozen list of produce. I feel strongly that we need to try eating clean foods when possible to reduce the many health problems that are so common. 

Equipment

9×13 casserole dish – grease and flour or line the bottom with parchment and just grease the sides. If you let the parchment come up on the long sides, you’ll have handles for removing the cake from the dish after it’s well chilled.

Large mixing bowl – for making the filling. You’ll need lots of room to fold in all those beaten egg whites at the end.

Medium mixing bowl – for mixing the crust

Smaller bowl – for beating the egg whites, 1 qt minimum.

Small bowl – for beating the cream

Spatula – for folding the egg whites into the batter and for scraping out the bowls.

Hand mixer – for whipping the cream and egg whites, and for mixing the batter

Egg beater, optional – for off-grid whipping

Parchment paper, optional – It helps to keep the bottom from sticking to the pan and makes it easier to slide the cake onto a platter if you want to do that.

Scale, optional – not required, but it’s more accurate and makes adding ingredients so much easier instead of using a bunch of measuring tools.

Cooling Rack, optional – If you want to cool the cake on the counter, it speeds up the process and protects your surface. Or you can just leave the cake in the oven on the rack to cool completely.

Medium saucepan for making Blueberry sauce

Potato masher or immersion blender

Ingredients

For The Crust:

Flour
Sugar
Butter
Egg
Baking Powder
Salt

Flour – this is one rare occasion where I use organic, white all-purpose flour. But there is no reason that you couldn’t try to make a whole wheat shortbread crust.

Sugar – I used evaporated cane juice crystals. This retains some of the natural minerals and nutrients that are in the cane sugar juice, and doesn’t impart a strong flavor of its own.

If you care about keeping the ingredients on the healthy side, I recommend to always avoid regular table sugar which is normally made with GMO beets that have been sprayed with pesticides.

Salt – Just a pinch or two of a good mineral salt, such as Redmond’s Real Salt.

Baking Powder – I like to get aluminum free baking powder.

Butter, softened – My butter of choice (unfortunately, I can’t make my own with naturally homogenized goat’s milk), is Kerrygold pasture raised butter. I prefer the unsalted when I can get it. If you use salted, then definitely go easy on adding extra salt or omit it altogether.

Egg – One egg serves as a binder for this crust.

For The Filling:

Butter
Sugar
Cornstarch or Arrowroot flour
Eggs
Quark or Substitute
Heavy Cream
Lemon Juice
Vanilla
Salt

Butter – As above, I used Kerrygold

Sugar – Here too I used evaporated cane juice crystals. I think honey or maple syrup would work great, but if you use liquid sweeteners, I’d increase the flour by about half as much more.

Arrowroot flour – or corn starch for the filling. Corn starch is most often GMO and heavily sprayed, so I only use organic, non GMO corn starch.

Large Eggs, separated – the whites get whipped separately to add fluffiness to the batter. Use room temperature eggs to speed up the whipping process. And be extra careful to not add any of the yolk to the whites. Even a tiny bit of yolk can prevent the whites from whipping up stiff. Add the discarded egg white from the crust to these egg whites, so you’ll have 6 egg whites altogether.

Quark – Homemade quark or store bought quark will be the best for a traditional German cheese cake. You can use a skim milk quark for a lighter cheese cake or use a whole milk quark for a bit more density. I used whole milk quark.

But choose any of the substitutions above instead if you can’t get quark or don’t have time to make it. My vote for the best substitution goes to salt-free or low-salt cottage cheese. If you’re using greek yogurt, I recommend the whole milk yogurt.

Whipping cream, divided – Since I don’t get cream from my goat’s milk I like to buy ‘organic valley’ heavy cream. It is made from pasture raised dairy cows. But any whipping or heavy cream will work.

Lemon juice and zest – Use the zest of one lemon and about 2 tbsp of the juice. If you have preserved lemon paste, it adds great extra flavor. You can just put a tablespoon of that in your cheesecake instead of the lemon zest and juice.

Vanilla – In Germany we used vanilla sugar, but that is not normally sold here. So you can certainly use vanilla extract.

Salt – Just a pinch or two of a good mineral salt, such as Redmond’s Real Salt, to help set the egg whites and balance the flavors of the cheese cake.

For The Topping

Blueberries
Sugar or Honey
Preserved lemon paste or fresh lemon
Cornstarch or Arrowroot flour

Blueberries – I used half frozen ones for the cooked sauce and half fresh picked ones to add after cooking.

Sugar – Here too I used evaporated cane juice crystals. But honey or maple syrup would work great, as would coconut sugar.

Preserved Lemon Paste – Or Lemon juice and zest. I love using my preserved lemon paste for almost all recipes that call for lemon. It imparts an awesome intense lemon flavor to this sauce. If you want to make it, you’ll need some time, as it takes at least three weeks or more to make a good fermented lemon paste. In the meantime, fresh lemons will work very well in this recipe. You can buy a bag of lemons, use what you need to make this recipe and ferment the rest, yes?!

Arrowroot flour or cornstarch – This serves as a binder and absorbs extra moisture.

Instructions for Making Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake

Preheat your oven to 350℉. 

Grease and flour the 9×13 baking dish or grease the sides and line the bottom with parchment. Let the parchment stick out on the long sides if you want a handle to lift the whole cake out of the pan later (after it’s chilled). I just keep and serve mine in the pan.

Make The Shortbread Crust:

Version one, using a handmixer: Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl, add the egg. Add the rest of the crust ingredients and knead to form a soft dough.

Version two (non-electric), this is what I did:

Add the flour, starch, sugar and salt to the bowl,

Add the butter.

Cut in the butter, or work it with your hands to make crumbles.

Add the egg.

Knead to make a soft dough. 

Roll your dough into a rectangle and place it in the 9×13 baking dish to make an even bottom. You can also just press the dough into the dish. That’s what I did.

Set aside and make the filling.

Make The Filling:

If your quark is lumpy or you’re using a substitute such as cottage cheese, whisk, process, or beat your cheese till it’s smooth before making the batter. 

Add the sugar, butter, starch, baking powder, vanilla, lemon juice and zest into the large bowl. Beat till smooth.

Separate the eggs and add the egg yolks into the large bowl. Put the whites into a one quart or bigger mixing container.

Beat the yolks into the mix to incorporate.

Add the blended cheese and incorporate.

Add the cream.

Beat till smooth and everything is incorporated. 

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites, and, using egg beaters or a hand mixer with clean beaters, beat the egg whites till very stiff and you can make a clean cut with a knife.

Add stiff egg whites to the batter.

With a silicone spatula, fold the egg whites very gently into the batter to make it nice and fluffy. 

Pour the batter over the prepared crust in your baking dish.

Smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven on the lower rack.

Baking in the BBQ: I’m using the BBQ for my baking and put a cake ring under the cake to lift it up a little from the direct heat of the grill and cover the opening in the back partly with foil to keep a more even temperature inside. The foil underneath is meant to diffuse the flames a little.

Bake for about 45-60 min. 

Cheesecake is prone to cracking, but if you cut around the edge of the cake, between the batter and the edge of the pan, about halfway through baking (after 25 minutes), it should help minimize cracking and even the cheese layer a little better. I didn’t do that, it’s just cosmetic, but that is a way to make it look nicer and more even.

Cover with parchment if it starts getting brown to keep it a nice, golden color.

Your cake is done when the center is just set up and a toothpick comes out fairly clean. Leave the cake in the oven for another hour with the door cracked slightly open. 

Take it out of the oven and cool completely. 

Do not refrigerate until it is cooled all the way. 

Store in the refrigerator until use. If you you make this cake ahead, don’t put the berry topping on until you will be serving it. This cheesecake will be good for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Freeze any leftovers for up to 3 months.

Make The Blueberry Sauce

In a saucepan combine the sugar and starch and whisk it to break up any starch lumps. Add half of the blueberries, and the lemon juice and zest. Slowly heat it while stirring and once the blueberries release their juices, turn the heat to med-high to get it to simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes to thicken it, then take it off the heat. 

With an immersion blender or a potato masher, mash the blueberries well. If you don’t like the bits in it, you can strain it through a sieve for a smoother sauce.

Cool this down a little, then add the rest of the fresh blueberries. Stir to mix well.

Set aside till the cheesecake is cooled to room temperature and serve it with the cheesecake or spread over the top of the cake if you’re serving a crowd. Keep refrigerated until use. 

You can make this ahead too and just place the topping and the cheesecake separately into the fridge until use. 

Tips For The Best Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

• To prevent cracking, make an incision around the edge of the cake along the rim of the dish.

• Keep the cake in the oven after it is done so it can cool very slowly, this can also help prevent cracking.

• You can also make this in a round springform pan if you like. I’d go with a 10″ size. Your cake will be a little higher. If you use the round form, line the bottom with parchment and use half the dough to form the bottom and the other half to make sides. Or you can use all of the dough for a thicker bottom.

• Don’t overbake. When the center is firm, turn off the oven. If the cake starts to brown at the top you can cover it with a piece of parchment to keep it light colored. My BBQ grill heats very unevenly, and I should have covered the one side or turned it. It got a little dark on one edge.

Variations

You can make this with other berries like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or a mix of them as well, just substitute 1:1 for the blueberries. 

If you don’t want to make a sauce, just cover with fresh berries. Decorate for a 4th of July theme using blueberries and strawberries.

Try this cake with a peach, cherry or plum sauce topping, or make a rhubarb sauce.  

For a quick topping you can use a canned pie filling.

Enjoy This Delicious Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake!

Now you get to enjoy the best ever lemon blueberry cheesecake! It’s full of fruity flavor mixed with the rich creamy cheese layer and a delicious cookie crust to round out the experience. I’m certain you’ll love this cake and I hope to hear about it! This is a great dish to take to a potluck party, bring to a picnic, take to the office to collect some Brownie points, and your family will be asking for more if you serve it at home! 

If you get to try this, be sure to leave a comment and tell us about it. And please don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions! I would totally appreciate a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating if you like my Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake recipe or this article! 

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Make German Quark cheese – Make authentic German Quark, also called Topfen. A versatile fresh, soft cheese that is a staple in German cooking.

Preserved Lemon Confit – Preserving lemons is not just a great way to add storage life to citrus, and it transforms the humble lemon into a delicacy. Great for flavoring beverages too!

Classic German Cheesecake (Käsekuchen) – How to make an incredibly delicious German cheesecake using Quark. Must try this!

Queso Fresco cheese recipe – The quickest, easiest cheese you’ll ever make and so versatile!

Creamy Quark Dessert With Oranges – Use unsalted queso fresco in place of quark cheese a delicious German dessert, a creamy, luxurious mousse, healthy enough for every day desserts, but fancy enough for special occasions.

Awesome Strawberry Quark Cheese Mousse – A delicious German quark dessert with pureed strawberries.

Make your own chevre cheese from scratch – How to make super versatile creamy, spreadable cheese that can be used as a dip, or spread, for baking, for savory or sweet shakes, fresh or aged. You can use this in place of Quark too, if you omit the salt.

Bonnyclabber – What is clabber milk and its uses Learn to make bonnyclabber, the original cheese. Nature’s way of preserving milk. A tasty, creamy cheese that makes a really good frosting for einkorn zucchini bread. This also makes a quark substitute if it’s really well drained.

Awesome Uses For Whey – Save the whey! And use it in dozens of ways. You’ll find something to do with whey for every single drop. It’s nutritious, versatile, healthy, and makes great fizzy sodas!

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9×13 casserole dish
10″ round springform
Spatula
Hand mixer
Egg beater
Parchment paper
Scale
Cooling Rack
Organic vanilla
Arrowroot flour
organic, non GMO corn starch
evaporated cane juice crystals
Redmond’s Real Salt