American Flag Cheesecake Bars

Makes 16 bars

CRUST 1½ cups finely crushed regular or cinnamon graham crackers (24 squares) ¹⁄3 cup butter, melted 3 tablespoons sugar

CHEESECAKE 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature ¾ cup sugar 3 large eggs, at room

temperature 2 tablespoons lemon

juice 2 teaspoons vanilla

extract ¼ teaspoon salt

GARNISH 80 blueberries 1 cup seedless raspberry

or strawberry jelly

Instructions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides.

Mist foil with cooking spray.

Make crust: Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar in a bowl.

Press mixture evenly over bottom of prepared pan.

Bake for 10 minutes or until set. Let cool on a wire rack.

Make filling: With an electric mixer on mediumhigh speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Scrape down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to medium-low and add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined.

Beat in lemon juice, vanilla and salt.

Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over crust.

Tap pan on countertop 3 or 4 times to burst air bubbles in filling. Bake for 40 minutes, or until filling is just set.

Remove cheesecake from oven and cool completely on a wire rack, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Use foil overhang to lift cheesecake out of pan and onto cutting board.

Carefully cut into 16 bars and transfer to a serving platter.

Decorate each bar with 5 blueberries in upper left corner to resemble stars on the American flag.

Place jelly in a zip-top bag, seal bag and snip off about ¼ inch at one bottom corner.

Pipe jelly in thin lines on each bar to resemble stripes on flag.