Farmers' Market

One of the true joys of this season is enjoying the first tastes of summer. My friend Sue shared with me that they had their first BLT sandwiches from their home grown tomatoes on Thursday evening. I'll admit I was jealous, our tomatoe plants are far from producing anything that can be put on a sandwich. My sister in law sent home some superb cucumbers that I made a salad with this morning. Sooooo good, thank you so much!

Mike and I went to the farmers market this morning and bought some Uecker sweet corn, it was fantastic! We had it for supper with a flat iron steak, the cucumber salad and a baked potato. That's sounds fantastic all by itself, but the real peace de resistance (is that how it's spelled???) was dessert.

This morning Mike was thumbing through the May issue of BH&G and he found a cheesecake bar recipe. We have a recipe that we dearly love that is made with crescent rolls & cream cheese (see Feb. 9th post) and it's been a favorite since our kids were little. I will tell you that this new recipe is now a family favorite, and I haven't even shared it with the rest of our family yet. Mike and I loved it, it was very very very very very good. With our further adieu, here it is:

COCONUT-BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE BARS

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup finely crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup ground pecans (or finely chopped)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbsp 1/2 & 1/2 (or milk)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Lightly grease 9x13 baking pan; set aside.
For crust, in small saucepan heat butter over medium heat until the color of light brown sugar. remove from heat; set aside.
In a medium bowl stir together graham cracker crumbs, flour, coconut, pecans and 1/4 cup sugar. Stir in butter until combined. Evenly press on bottom of prepared pan. Bake 8-10 min. or until lightly browned.
Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and 2/3 cup sugar on medium until combined. Add eggs, cream & vanilla. Beat until combined. Pour over hot crust and sprinkle blueberries on top.
Bake for 24-30 minutes or until center appears to be set. Cool in pan on rack. Cover and refrigerate. Cut into bars and store covered in refrigerator.
When I removed this from the oven I sprinkled about 1-2 Tbsp of raw sugar on top to add a little crunch and extra sweetness. I was afraid the fresh blueberries might be a little sour so I was just being extra careful.

These are great!! I'm taking some to Lincoln tomorrow to see if they pass the next panel of taste testers :-).