- Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on "Preppy Kitchen,"
we're making an amazing blueberry cheesecake.
So let's get started.
First off, we need 1 1/2 cups or 180 grams
of crushed graham crackers.
That's 12 crackers.
I like to crush my own,
but you can totally use the pre-crushed ones
and you can use almost any cookie for this.
So if you love speculoos cookies, have at it.
Even lemon shortbread cookies. It'll work too.
Once your graham crackers are all crushed,
pop 'em into a big bowl,
then we're gonna give this a little bit of sugar,
just two tablespoons, mix that sugar in
and we're gonna add five tablespoons
or 70 grams of melted butter.
Just move it along as you drizzle the butter in.
This will give you a nice, even coverage.
It's not gonna be like dough,
but if you squeeze it together with force, it'll hold.
That's what we're looking for.
Grab a nine-inch springform pan and, optional,
give this a little spritz of baking spray
so things release easily.
Just a little bit.
Every Sunday, my family would have dinner
together with our grandparents.
My mom would often bring a blueberry cheesecakes,
so I have very fond core memories
of helping her make it in the kitchen as a child
and it tasting delicious.
I'm using a flat-bottomed glass
and I'm just gonna press this out.
I want a thin layer on the bottom
and a thin layer on the side.
You can have your crust come all the way up or halfway up.
It's totally up to you.
I'm gonna go almost all the way up.
Use that glass and just press, press, press.
This looks way nice.
We're gonna pop this into the fridge,
chill for about half an hour
and we're gonna get that oven to 325,
but I wanna show you how the racks should be positioned.
One rack all the way at the bottom, one in the middle.
And we're gonna set this to 325.
It's time to mix things up,
and I have two eight ounce packages of cream cheese,
that's 457 grams, but it's very soft
so I popped this into the microwave
and softened it up just like I would butter
because if you've ever had a lumpy cheesecake,
it's because the cream cheese was too cold.
It just couldn't get whipped up and nice and smooth.
Take a look at the texture.
It's just smooth cream cheese, very soft now.
Pop that into the bowl of your mixer.
I'm using a stand mixer today.
You could definitely use a hand mixer to make this too.
I'm using a paddle attachment because I don't want to beat
too much air into the cheesecake.
If your cheesecake is full of little bubbles,
those bubbles expand in the oven
and it ends up getting cracked.
Cream that up for just a minute, that's looking great.
We're gonna add 3/4 of a cup or 150 grams
of granulated sugar in now.
I'm gonna mix this on medium high
for about two minutes until it is creamy
and that sugar has had a chance to dissolve a bit
in the cream cheese.
You'll see the difference in texture.
While that mixes, I'm cracking three room temperature eggs
into a bowl, just so they're at the ready
and I can make sure there's no shells.
I have to show you the difference now. Look at this.
It is silky smooth.
It's time for 1/2 of a cup of room temperature sour cream.
Sour cream's gonna give you some nice tang
to balance the flavors out, and it's so creamy.
It really gives you a lighter just mouthFeel.
Mix it in on lowish for about a minute,
just until it's combined.
That looks great.
I'm gonna add my eggs in one at a time.
Let it mix in, and after the second egg
it is definitely time for a scrape down.
Our batter is just getting looser and freer.
It's so creamy and amazing.
Back to mixing, add the last egg in.
This looks great.
I'm gonna add in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla,
and then to give this just a little bit more structure,
I'm gonna add flour in.
Specifically two tablespoons.
I like to sprinkle it in as opposed to dumping it in.
You don't wanna add a big clump of flour in
'cause chances are, it'll stay clumpy.
It's just nice and smooth.
I will scrape the bowl down one last time and let it mix
on low while I get my star ingredient, the blueberries.
If you saw my garden tour,
you know that we have a big veggie garden
in the back and this year, it's even larger
and we have blueberry bushes, which I'm so excited about.
We just planted them and they're actually yielding a bunch
but not enough to make this cheesecake
in recipe development and everything else.
These blueberries came from the farmer's market.
They are so plump and delicious.
If you don't have fresh blueberries around,
you can totally use frozen ones for this cheesecake.
Just pop them in frozen and you'll add in
a few more minutes for the bake time.
I want one cup of blueberries here.
I am so excited for my blueberry bushes.
I was always a little bit jealous
that my mom has hers in her garden,
just walks through and picks fresh blueberries all the time.
She's in LA, so she gets to do that
all year round, basically.
But in the summer and spring,
I'll have some blueberries of my own.
Those blueberries go right into the batter,
and this time I'm not gonna use the mixer.
I will gently fold them in
just so they're thoroughly distributed,
but you're not breaking them up.
They're gonna break up naturally
and bleed their beautiful blueberry juice
through your cheesecake in the bake.
We don't need to mush them up now.
I grabbed a large casserole dish
and filled it with boiling hot water.
That goes in the bottom rack of your oven.
And now it's time to fill your chilled crust
with your delicious blueberry mixture.
Get all those blueberries out.
Look how beautiful they are.
Who doesn't want blueberries covered in cheesecake?
All that cheesecake mixture's out,
but one final thing is just move those blueberries around.
They kind of congregate right in the center
where you're pouring.
Just give it a little zhuzh, move it around.
This is ready to go into the oven.
325 for about an hour and 15 minutes.
Filling's gonna be set.
It'll pull away from the pan a little bit,
and if you give it a little jiggle,
there's a slight wobble.
Not super wobbly and liquidy, but it wobbles a bit.
That's when you know it's done. In you go.
My cheesecake baked and it's perfectly chilled,
so now it's time to make an amazing blueberry topping.
I have two cups of blueberries.
We're gonna reserve 1/2 of a cup and save it for later.
Just 1/2 a cup.
The remaining 1 1/2 cups are gonna go right into the pan.
Half a cup of sugar, and for extra zing,
I'm adding in two tablespoons of lemon juice,
just right into the pan.
Now I'm gonna place this over medium heat
and bring this to a simmer.
Once this comes to a simmer,
you'll wanna stir fairly frequently
so nothing burns along the edge.
It should be syrupy and amazing, not burnt and crispy.
This will take about eight minutes.
Now I'm gonna combine two tablespoons
of water and two teaspoons of cornstarch.
This will, of course, help thicken things up
at the very end.
Just stir it together into a slurry.
Look at this. That looks beautiful.
So you have the blueberries
immediately bursting from the heat.
This is looking syrupy and amazing.
I love this color. You let me know in the comments
if you know exactly what it's called, cause it's gorgeous.
Give your cornstarch mixture a mix,
'cause it kind of settles.
We're gonna pour it right into our blueberries.
Mix, mix, mix. It's gonna a thicken up right away.
So it'll take on a wonderful extra-syrupy consistency.
You want it to cling to the top of the cake a little bit,
not just ooze out and fall when you cut it.
I'm also gonna fold in
the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries.
And by the way, you could add more blueberries if you want.
You're like, "Hey John, that's kinda stingy."
Hey, add some more. It's up to you.
Cook while stirring frequently for just two minutes
and once it thickens up, take it off the heat
and let it cool down.
Oh my gosh, so beautiful. Ooh.
everything's nice and cool, so remove the collar
from your pan and gently remove your cheesecake.
I like to use an offset spatula
just to kind of give it a start.
Chances are you're cooling your cake
in the refrigerator and the butter sets up a bit
so it can kind of just stick
a little bit more than you'd like.
So you can run a knife along the edge
to free it, just like this.
And now we're gonna spoon
our cool blueberry topping right on top.
Oh my gosh. This is a luscious crown.
Give that cake a slice and it's time to enjoy.
This is basically a cheesecake dream come true.
Those blueberries are bursting in my mouth.
The cheesecake is fluffier than you could ever imagine,
And the topping is beyond, oh my gosh.
Hope you get a chance to make this recipe,
and if you like this video
check out my cheesecake playlist.
(upbeat music)