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Mardi of Eat. Live. Travel. Write. won the last Hay Hay it’s Donna Day cooking event and is hosting this month’s Hay Hay it’s Donna Day, a food blogging event in which a blogger chooses a recipe by Australian cookbook author Donna Hay. The host/hostess of the HHDD event invites all their blog reading and cooking/ baking friends to recreate the recipe and send in a link to their blog post by the end of the month.
Mardi chose a super easy dessert recipe, Blackberry Cheesecake Pots. We love cheesecake at our house, so when Mardi asked me to participate in the challenge, I was happy to join in. Mardi will post a roundup on June 5th and ask people to vote on which interpretation they like best. She’ll announce a winner (and the next host/hostess) on June 15th.
I love blackberries and they were on sale at the market, so that was an easy choice. I almost always use reduce fat cream cheese, so that was the first change that I made. We, like many Americans, tend to like our desserts a bit sweeter, so I increased the amount of sugar I added to the cheesecake mixture.
Finally, as far as I’m concerned, cheesecake needs a graham cracker crust. So I decided to add a layer of graham cracker crumbs to the bottom of the dish, followed by a layer of blackberries and then topped with the cheesecake mixture, a little whipped cream, more graham cracker crumbs and a perfect blackberry on top. A quick, elegant and delicious dessert.
Donna Hay’s Blackberry Cheesecake Pots
Ingredients
- 4 graham crackers
- 1 T. butter melted
- 8 oz. light cream cheese Neufchatel
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 oz. fresh blackberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- Process the graham crackers in a food processor to create crumbs. Add melted butter, stir well to combined. Spread on baking sheet. Toast in the oven 3–5 minutes until crumbs start to brown. Cool.
- Process the cream cheese, sugar, cream and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Add half the blackberries and process until just crushed.
- Spoon a tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs into four ½ cup-capacity dishes, layer on a few blackberries. Divide cheesecake mixture evenly between the dishes and garnish with whipped cream, graham cracker crumbs and blackberries. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Serves 4.
Jenny
Has anyone actually made them? I only read comments about how they look …..
Barbara Schieving
Hi Jenny – it’s delicious and super simple and easy to make. Similar to most no-bake cheesecake recipes but with the addition of fruit.
Chez Us
Barbara, I am so glad you participated in this round of HHDD. I love what you did with your cheesecake cups. I thought about adding graham cracker crumbs as well or biscotti crumbs but then changed my mind last minute – really was a bit lazy to ground the crumbs!
Mrs. L
Yum, I just got a big batch of Blackberries that I need to do something with. This is perfect!