Raspberry-Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Light and refreshing, lemon cheesecake is the perfect spring dessert. Add in some raspberries and now you have a colorful, fruity dessert to share with friends and family. I’m so glad I came across this recipe from Kraft just the other day. I revised the steps a little bit below just to add in some implied instructions. I love that this cheesecake recipe was meant to be cut into bars which is perfect for smaller portions and individual servings. Family gatherings can get pretty big with lots of yummy desserts to try. With these bars, I can cut the pieces into the perfect serving size so even the little cousins can just grab a piece and add it to their dessert plate.

Ingredients:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar, divided
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
3 cups (12 oz.) raspberries, divided
1 Tbsp. lemon zest and juice from 1 lemon
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
4 eggs

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Line a 13” x 9” pan with aluminum foil. Make sure the foil extends over the sides so you can lift the cheesecake out of the pan later.
Grease the aluminum foil with Crisco.

Crush graham crackers into crumbs in a plastic bag until you have 2 cups.
Combine the graham cracker crumbs, 2 Tbsp. of sugar, and melted butter in the prepared pan. Press the ingredients to the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 min.

Wash and dry your raspberries. Reserve 1/2 cup of raspberries and 1 tsp. lemon zest for later use.
Beat cream cheese, lemon juice, remaining zest, and remaining sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Gently stir in remaining raspberries; pour over the crust.
Bake 35 to 40 min. or until center is almost set (it took closer to 45-50 minutes for mine to look done).
Cool completely.