Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars

A delicious looking cheesecake bars recipe from Betty Crocker!

Ingredients

Crust

1 pouch Betty Crocker™ sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 egg 

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Filling

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

2 eggs 

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup fresh raspberries

Directions

Heat oven to 325°F. 

Spray bottom only of 13 x 9-inch pan with cooking spray.

Mix crust ingredients with spoon until soft dough forms in a large bowl. 

Press dough in bottom of pan. 

Bake 15 minutes. 

Remove from oven to cooling rack and cool 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon peel with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl frequently. 

Add eggs, one at a time and beat until just blended. 

Beat in lemon juice. 

Reserve 1/4 cup filling and set aside. 

Spread remaining filling over cooled crust.

Mash raspberries with fork.  Push mixture through small strainer with back of spoon to make 1/4 cup raspberry puree. 

Stir puree into reserved filling. 

Drop spoonfuls of raspberry mixture on cream cheese layer. 

Carefully swirl into top of cream cheese layer with a knife.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until filling is set. 

Cool 30 minutes on cooling rack. 

Refrigerate about 2 hours or until cooled completely. 

Cut in 6 rows by 4 rows.

Watch Video

Photo and recipe source

Raspberry Pie Squares

This is one of those recipes that can be used as a guide.  Instead of making the crust yourself, you could use frozen pastry sheets, use pre-made pie filling, frozen fruit or substitute the type of filling.

Taste of Home is the photo and recipe source, link follows recipe.

Ingredients


3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups cold butter
1/2 to 1 cup cold water

FILLING:
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon coarse sugar



Directions

Combine flour, sugar and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball.

Divide dough in half so that one portion is slightly larger than the other; wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1-1/4 hours or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375°. 

Roll out larger portion of dough between two large sheets of waxed paper into a 17x12-in. rectangle. Transfer to an ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan and press pastry onto the bottom and up the sides of pan. Trim pastry even with edges.

Filling: in a large bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt . . . add raspberries and lemon juice . . . toss to coat. Spoon over pastry.

Roll out remaining pastry and place over filling. Trim and seal edges, cut slits in pastry. Brush top with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. 

Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. 

Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into squares.Yield: 24 servings.

Editor's Note: If using frozen raspberries, use without thawing to avoid discoloring the batter.


Recipe and Photo Source
Originally published as Raspberry Pie Squares in Taste of Home's Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook Annual 2011, p218