Does anyone else clean their kitchen before cooking a meal or preparing a dessert? I think it makes the end result taste better…especially when a certain mister does most of the dishes.
I was originally going to bake muffins today, but the hubbos bought two sleeves of bagels this morning (everything, in case you were wondering). To avoid breakfast carb overload and offset Friday’s deep fried Oreo sundae, I decided to kick-off summer dessert making with a light lemon blueberry cream graham.
Graham crackers are a staple in this house. They provide the foundation for a quick snack and bring me back to my childhood. My favorite graham toppings are almond butter + jelly and apples + local honey with one shake of dried mint.
Today’s dessert graham is sophisticated. Delicate. Tart. Light. Creamy. Dinner-party worthy.
Okay, so it’s just a homemade graham cracker crust with lemon cheese cream and marinated blueberries. Sometimes it’s best to keep it simple and enjoy these little pleasures. But, seriously, I’m never ever going to purchase a premade graham cracker crust again. Ever.
Need: staples + 1 brick Neufchatel cheese + lemon + 2 cups fresh blueberries + light sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 1: Break up graham crackers to form the crust, then stir together crumbled graham crackers, butter, and sugar in a medium bowl. Using the back of a spoon, press the crumbs into a pie, tart, or cake pan.
- 12 graham crackers, smashed (I like a chunkier crust)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
Step 2: Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Set aside and cool completely.
Step 3: Rinse blueberries and place in a medium sized bowl. Add sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Set aside.
- 2 cups rinsed and dried blueberries
- Zest ¼ lemon
- Juice ½ lemon
- ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
Step 4: Stir together brown sugar, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon ingredients until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ cup light sour cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Zest ¾ lemon
- Juice ½ lemon
Step 5: Whisk Neufchatel in a stand mixer or in a large bowl with an electric mixer for three minutes until smooth. We got this awesome Kitchen Aid stand mixer as a wedding gift, but before we would always just use regular egg beaters–they work just as good.
- 1 brick softened Neufchatel cheese
Step 6: Add brown sugar mixture to cream cheese, beating until combined.
Step 7: Spread the sugary, cheese mixture over the cooled-graham crust, Keep away from live animals.
Step 8: Drain blueberries and sprinkle on top of the lemon cream. Refrigerate until serving. You can add a sprinkle of powder sugar, if you’d like (we liked).
P.S. if you have a spring form pan that lets you pop the sides off, your first piece won’t look like this:
