Elbow Grease & Key Lime Blueberry Cheesecake

My Valentine's weekend was full of fun and frolic, and yesterday was spent meeting writing deadlines and doing laundry. (I'm almost completely done with a week's worth of ironing - a miracle!) That is all well and fine, except that my house is worse for the wear having been neglected for a few days in a row (bad news when teenagers are involved)...and we're hosting cell group (couples Bible study through our church) tonight. So...looks like today is a day to whip up a fantastic dessert (par for the course - that's one of the jobs of the couple hosting) and frantically turn this hurricane zone into a clean and comfortable place to have our group tonight! It's really not THAT bad, but my hubby needs me to get something to the UPS Store, and I need to get groceries for my elegant dessert and of course make dinner WAY ahead of time so we can heat and eat (and I can have those nasty dishes done way ahead of time - before the company gets here). That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for the scrubbing and vacuuming...but, I'll put a little elbow grease into it, and we'll be okay. There's nothing like company to give you the incentive to get your house spotless, right? That's one of the reasons I love the fact that we have people dropping in often. I think I'd let it go too often if we didn't!

I did decide on a decadent dessert I've made a few times - I thought I'd share. I got this from a Woman's Day magazine last summer, I believe. It's to die for! Even though it sounds like a summery dessert, you can have it anytime. (And, I've got Spring fever so bad, I'm ready for a summery sounding dessert, anyhow!) It's not a heavy cheesecake. It's yummy! (Oh - and if you clean your house really hard today, you can have a piece GUILT FREE - really! The work you're doing today cancels out any fat and calories you eat tonight. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) :)

Blueberry Key Lime Cheesecake Recipe

Yield: 12 servings
INGREDIENTS
Crust
10 shortbread cookies (I used Keebler Sandies Simply Shortbread)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Filling
3 bricks (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbsp grated lime zest
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 drop liquid green food color (optional)

Blueberry Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp water
3 cups blueberries
1 Tbsp lime juice

PREPARATION
1. Heat oven to 325°F. Spray an 8 x 3-in. springform pan with nonstick spray.

2. Crust: Process cookies in food processor to make fine crumbs. Add butter; pulse to blend. Press onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack.

3. Filling: In large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and sour cream. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl and beater once or twice. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until blended. Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth and creamy; pour over crust.

4. Bake 60 minutes or until cake is almost set and center still jiggles slightly when touched. Remove to a rack; cut around outside edge of cake to loosen from sides. Cool on rack 3 hours (cake will sink as it cools). Cover and refrigerate up to several days.

5. Topping: In small saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and water until blended. Add 1 cup blueberries; mash berries well with a potato masher. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a full boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. Stir in lime juice and another 1/2 cup blueberries. Spread on top of cheesecake; top cheesecake with remaining 1 1/2 cups blueberries. Refrigerate until serving.