Raspberry Blueberry Cheesecakes Lab

What a beautiful surprise! Raspberries in September! We made cheesecakes with the raspberries we got from the CSA supplemented by wild blueberries we picked last weekend in Ricketts Glen, PA. This a beautiful state park along Lake Rose, with great hikes along two streams that flow over spectacular waterfalls. One can swim in one of the pools (surprisingly deep!) and go sit under the waterfall and get a full body massage wile in the middle of a rainbow. It's magic.

Tim and I each made one, expecting to bring one to the family brunch on Sunday (got postponed), so we got to eat both (share some with friends too). We experimented with different crusts (Tim used a whole grain crust we bought at Mom's - great, not so fatty as the Pillsbury type crusts, but a bit salty for my taste; I used graham cracker crust made following the recipe that is on the box, with less sugar, but a touch a maple syrup, a bit a vanilla. I also put just a a bit of butter, supplemented with vegetable oil and apple sauce instead of all the melted butter that the recipe asks for. It really does not change the flavor or the texture,and it's so much healthier. We also experimented with the filling, the cheesecake part. We did not follow the traditional recipe for cheesecake (too much cream cheese and eggs for us). Tim played with whipped cream and cream cheese, and egg, baked for just a bit. He got a nice fluffy souffle-like filling, much better than mine which was heavier and closer to a real cheesecake filling (I added cream, but not whipped fluffy, cream cheese, egg, corn starch and a bit of flour). The toppings were different too: Tim's was the fruits coated in melted berry jam, mine was just the fruits. Mine looks better, but Tim's tastes better. All in all, both pies were great. We need to work out a lot to keep in shape with all these goodies. Plus, the apple pie season is coming up. Imagine the pies, the strudels, the jams! I can't wait. Happy eating!