same song, different tune

Blueberry delight. When you find a delicious recipe that also happens to be versatile, it's a baker's responsibility to try different variations of it.

That's what I've done here. I've taken my cherry cheesecake bars (which were SO good and repeated without tweaks twice before I ventured out) and made a few changes. The first difference is obvious--I replaced the cherries with blueberries. Then, since I find blueberries and almonds to go so well together, I added a touch of almond extract to the creamy filling and used some of the crushed up remnants of my Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds breakfast cereal in the crust.

These changes made for a very tasty twist! Don't ask me to choose between only eating blueberries or cherries for the rest of my life, because I love them both and found them to be equally suitable for this dessert. I like the added crunch in the crust and the extra boost of flavor in the filling, too. I won't say this is better than the original, but I won't say it's worse, either.

That's what I call a win-win situation.

Blueberry Delight with Cereal Crumbs Crust
(printable recipe)
Serves 12-15
Ingredients:
Crust:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds cereal crumbs from the bottom of the bag
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Filling:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 (8-ounce) tub whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (21-ounce) can blueberry pie filling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
To make the crust, mix the graham cracker crumbs, cereal crumbs, melted butter, and granulated sugar together with a fork.
Press the mixture evenly into a greased 11x7-inch baking dish.
Bake for 5-8 minutes, until the edges are slightly brown.*
Remove the crust from the oven and allow to cool while you prepare the filling.
To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Beat in the extract.
Fold in the whipped topping until smooth, then pour the mixture onto the cooled graham cracker crust and gently spread it out.
Spoon the pie filling over the creamy mixture and spread it out evenly.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight--the longer, the better!

*You can skip this step if necessary, but know that your crust will be quite crumbly!