Blackberry Lemon Layered Cheesecake

Blackberry and lemon -

 sounds fabulous together

and put them in a cheesecake base - WOW!

(This recipe came from IVillage.  I had to tweak

it a bit for it to work for me.)

This week is my Pinterest week and I had to

feature some sweets too!

My daughter in law pinned this and 

wanted me to make it.

It starts with a basic batter and then half of it is

flavored with blackberries and fresh lemon.

I have heard of Meyer lemons but have never seen

them in the store before.  Of course when I saw our

local grocer feature them, I had to give them a try.

Now of course, I am hooked and will probably never 

see them again, but they were really wonderful.

I had some trouble with the original recipe

BUT

we thought the flavor was fabulous, so I tweaked it

a little to give it another try.

Blackberry Lemon Layered Cheesecake

(tweaked for our tastes)

1 pkg. graham crackers

1/4 C. melted butter

1/4 C. sugar

4- 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 C. sour cream

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, (preferably white vanilla)

1 large lemon, rind and juice

(if you have a small one, use 1 1/2 lemons)

12 oz. pkg of frozen blackberries, thawed

In food processor, grind the graham crackers until

a fine crumb, add the sugar, then pour in the melted butter 

and mix until well blended.  Spray the bottom of a 9 inch

springform pan with cooking spray and then press

the crumb crust into the pan using the back of a

spoon, or the bottom of a flat measuring cup.  

Press it in firmly and about half way up the sides.

Place the cream cheese into a large mixing bowl and

cream with a batter paddle on medium.  Add the sweetened

condensed milk and the sour cream and mix until smooth.  

Then add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.  

Add the vanilla. Set aside.

In your food processor puree the blackberries.  

Finely grate the lemon zest and then squeeze the

juice out.  Stir both into the blackberry puree.

Place a generous third of the cheesecake batter

into a separate bowl and stir in the blackberry puree.

Pour the blackberry layer onto the prepared crust.

Gently spoon the vanilla flavored cheesecake

(about 2/3 of the batter) onto the blackberry batter.

Spoon the vanilla batter up against the edge

of the pan so that the blackberry layer doesn't

just seep up and around the vanilla layer.

You will have a little blackberry puree left

in your bowl, use a few drops of this on top

of the batter and then run a toothpick through

them to make a design on the top, if desired.

Place in the oven and bake for 60 to 70 minutes.

The top will just begin to get brown and the center

will still be jiggly.  Carefully remove it from the oven

and let it cool to room temperature.  Then lightly cover

it and place it in the fridge overnight.

Serve it with additional blackberry sauce if desired:

Blend a 12 oz. pkg. of frozen blackberries (thawed)

in your food processor or blender.  Add 3/4 C.

sugar and 1 T. lemon juice.  

Press through sieve to remove seeds

if desired.

Cheesecake really needs to be made the day ahead as

it needs to chill and the flavors develop in the fridge.

It is even better in a couple of days if you can stand

to wait that long!

I will be posting this with

Foodie Friday

Pink Saturday