Blueberry Cheesecake Bites

Watching the food network can be a dangerous, but beautiful thing. While watching Valerie’s Home Cooking one Saturday morning, I decided I wanted to give her Blueberry Cheesecake Filo Cups a try. This recipe was fairly simple and in just a few steps, I had a lemony, summer dessert perfect for satisfying any sweet tooth.

I tweaked a few things below to make the process a littler smoother. Instead of whisking the marscapone, powdered sugar, and lemon zest, use a dinner fork to mix everything together. The marscapone tends to stick to the whisk and makes it impossible to keep a good stirring motion to blend your ingredients.

For a user-friendly tip, wash your lemons and dry them completely before using a grater or lemon zester. Then, once you’ve zested your lemons, cut them in half to juice them.

Valerie’s recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus more zest, for garnish
• One 1.9-ounce package mini phyllo (filo) shells

Instructions:

Combine the blueberries, granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the berries start to break down and the liquid becomes syrupy, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, 25 to 30 minutes.

Whisk together the mascarpone, powdered sugar, and lemon zest and juice in a medium bowl.

Spoon or pipe dollops of the mascarpone mixture into the phyllo shells, leaving room for the blueberry compote, then top with the blueberry compote.

Freshly grate lemon zest on top to garnish and dust with powdered sugar just before serving.