Blueberry Coconut Cheesecake Bars

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Well now that we’re into April, no better time than to get my March recipe posted 🙂 If you follow my Instastories you saw that for March, my “needed” ingredients for this recipe included: coconut, nutmeg, dark chocolate, berries, maple syrup and that the dessert needed to be a cookie or bar. And, voila! I bring to you these super creamy blueberry coconut cheesecake bars.

When I do my recipe testing I try out a ton of different options. With this one it was different berries, different cream cheese fillings and different crusts. This recipe, with just a couple tweaks, was actually one of the first ones I came up with. Am I getting better at this recipe creation thing?! Probably not. I’ll call it luck at best. But I do love how it gets my creative juices flowing. I don’t usually work with coconut and having a list of “must use” ingredients is really challenging at times. Hopefully you guys are getting out there and trying the recipes, because this one especially is great for spring and summer and such a cool, yummy treat as the days heat up.

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Recipe – this yields about 9 bars

Ingredients:

Crust – 
30 coconut Oreos
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
2 tablespoons dark chocolate chunks

Fruit Filling – 
2 cups blueberries (fresh)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup maple syrup
up to 3 teaspoons coconut flour

Cheesecake Layer – 
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Directions:

Step 1: Lightly spray a 9×9 baking pan and line it with two sheets (crisscrossed) of parchment paper.
Step 2: Using a food processor, place the oreos and dark chocolate in and pulse into a fine crumb.
Step 3: Add in the melted butter and process until the crumbs are moist.
Step 4: Pour the crumb mixture into the prepared pan and pat down evenly, covering the entire bottom of the pan.
Step 5: Place the pan into the fridge to chill while preparing other ingredients.
Step 6: In a sauce pan, place the blueberries, syrup and nutmeg in and bring to a boil.
Step 7: Lower the temperature to medium and cook the mixture for about 2 minutes, smashing down the blueberries.
Step 8: Add up to 3 teaspoons of coconut flour to gain thickness. Feel free, to place 1 teaspoon at a time to achieve the desired consistency. If your mixture seems to dry, add a little bit of water.
Step 9: Once thickened, remove from heat and let cool for 10-15 minutes.
Step 10: Once the blueberries are cooled, pull out the prepared pan from the fridge and spread the blueberry layer over top the crust. Place back in the fridge when done.
Step 11: Whip the cream in a small bowl until firm peaks form.
Step 12: In another bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, syrup and vanilla until smooth. Usually takes a couple minutes to get all of the lumps out from the cream cheese.
Step 13: Fold in the whipped cream and coconut flakes gently. Do not over mix.
Step 14: Pull the pan from the fridge and spread the cheesecake layer over the blueberries. Place back into the fridge when complete.
Step 15: Chill for at least 1 hour to set.
Step 16: Serve chilled.

If you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out or if you have any questions. If you put a photo on Instagram tag @patternsandbatter. I would love to see your creations. Happy Baking!
xoxo, Michelle