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.

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Yield: 4 servings

Donna Hay’s Blackberry Cheesecake Pots

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Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 graham crackers
• 1 T. butter, melted
• 8 oz. light cream cheese (Neufchatel)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 oz. fresh blackberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. 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.
3. Process the cream cheese, sugar, cream and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Add half the blackberries and process until just crushed.
4. Spoon a tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs into four 1/2 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.