Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars – Sally’s Baking Addiction

These are ultra creamy lemon blueberry cheesecake bars baked on a graham cracker crust. Enjoy fresh lemon flavor and smooth cheesecake, plus there’s no shortage of juicy blueberries and crispy crust!

Like many bakers and dessert lovers, I enjoy baking a classic cheesecake. It’s a tall and mighty dessert with massive crowd appeal and endless topping options like strawberry sauce and salted caramel.

But there’s no arguing that baking a cheesecake can be daunting: Don’t over-sweeten! Avoid over-baking! Don’t forget the water bath! Will your springform leak? We’ll find out!

It’s often worth the effort⁠—I mean, I RAVE about this cheesecake recipe⁠—but if I’m looking for a quicker, less fussy cheesecake option, I usually make cheesecake pie or today’s cheesecake bars.

Here’s Why You’ll Love these Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

• All the texture of traditional cheesecake, but easier and quicker
• Extra creamy, extra thick
• Tangy-sweet flavor with loads of blueberries
• The cheesecake version of popular lemon blueberry cake
• Grab & go⁠—no fork needed!

Reader Pam says: “So delicious! Perfect amount of lemon tartness with the sweetness of the blueberries is to die for! Since blueberries are in season here right now I used fresh. Love the thick crust also. It holds up well to the weight of the filling… ★★★★★”

Graham Cracker Crust Success Tips

Below you’ll find my basic graham cracker crust recipe. It fits into a 9-inch square baking pan perfectly, as well as many 8-inch and 10-inch pans. I love this particular crust because it’s altogether crunchy, buttery, thick, and not overly sweet like many crumb crusts of its kind. We use it for blueberry cream cheese pie, banoffee pie, and these mini key lime pies.

Some helpful tips:

• You need a careful ratio of 3 ingredients: graham cracker crumbs, sugar, & melted butter.
• Use a food processor or blender to grind 12 full-sheet graham crackers into crumbs.
• Stir the graham cracker crumbs and sugar together before mixing in the butter.
• Press into your lined pan just until it’s no longer crumbly. Do not pack down too hard.

Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes so it has a little head start:

Grab These Ingredients for the Filling

1. Blocks of Cream Cheese: Make sure you’re using blocks of full-fat cream cheese and not the cream cheese in a tub you would use for spreading on bagels. Same rule applies when making cream cheese frosting and strawberry cream cheese pie.
2. Sugar: When over-sweetening these bars, you can’t detect the natural lemon and blueberry flavors. 6 Tablespoons is the magical unicorn amount; it’s more than 1/3 cup and not quite 1/2 cup!
3. Lemon: 1 large lemon or 2 medium lemons are typically enough for these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars. You need 3 Tablespoons of juice and 1 teaspoon zest, which together is the perfect amount for lovely lemon flavor (that isn’t pucker-your-lips-sour!).
4. Vanilla Extract: For delicious, rich flavor.
5. Egg: The cheesecake bars would fall apart with an egg.
6. Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen, your batter will be swirled blue/purple.

The filling we use for lemon blueberry cheesecake bars is a lot like this cheesecake pie. Lemon juice replaces the sour cream and we can get away with 1 egg since the bars aren’t quite as thick.

Expect a thick filling. Make sure you spread it over the crust while the crust is still warm. Why? This will help the filling adhere to the crust a little better.

Success Tip: Here’s how I like to line square baking pans. So easy!

How to Cut Neat Squares

Cool and bars at room temperature for about 1 hour, and then refrigerate them for 2 hours or until the bottom of the pan feels cold. If you cut the bars into squares too early, they’ll completely fall apart. If I’m serving these at a party or event, I prepare them the night before just so I know they’ll cool and chill long enough to yield neat squares.

Slice them with a sharp knife and wipe it clean between each cut.

I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe! The whole team loved how light they tasted, as well as how the buttery graham cracker crust complemented the lemon cheesecake filling. Finding the tasty balance between tart and sweet is tricky when it comes to lemon desserts, but these bars nail it!

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