Marion Berry Cheesecake Bars & Lemon Curd Cheesecake Bites

I made Marion Berry Cheesecake Bars to take to a family reunion. They were easy to make and chilled well in the fridge (no bake is nice). I topped the cheesecake with marion berry jam. For the lemon cheesecake bites, I filled each cupcake liner with a graham-cracker crust, then spooned a top of that cheesecake filling, then drizzeled lemon curd on top of each bite. If you love cheesecake, why not make these adorable treats!

For either cheesecake bars or bites you will need the following:

For crust:

1 1/4 c. finely crushed graham crackers
5 T. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. In either a food processor or by hand, finely crush graham crakers until they are fine. Add melted butter and pour onto a 8 x 8 baking pan that has been greased. Mold down by pressing down. Bake for about 8-10 min. If you choose to cheesecake bites in a cupcake liner, press down graham cracker mixture into each liner about 1/2 inch into liner.

For cheesecake filling:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 packet of unflavored gelatin
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 c. boiled hot water

put one package of gelatin into medium sized bowl. Add sugar and hot water. Stir and allow gelatin to dissolve for about 5 min. Stir until all dissolved. In a large bowl, add soft cream cheese and vanilla, then add gelatin mixture. Beat on low until smooth. Pour mixture onto baked graham crust either in pan or cupcake liners. Chill in fridge for up to 3 hours.

Lemon curd:
2 T. lemon juice
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. butter
1 T. heavy cream or sour cream
1 egg and 1 egg yolk (from mykitchen cafe recipe (she didn't add sour cream, but I did since I didn't have heavy cream on hand).

In a sauce pan add eggs and whisk. Add sugar and lemon juice and stir on medium low heat for about 5 min. Add cream and butter and stir for another 2 min or so. Let mixture set in fridge for about 10 min. Pour mixture on cheesecake after cheesecake has set for about 2 hours.

Or:

Marion Berry Jam or any other jam flavor you like. Microwave about 1/4 c. of your favorite jam (I used Marion Berry) for about 10 sec. Pour into a funnel and drizzel over cheesecake once cheesecake has set. Put cheesecake back into fridge to allow to cool for additional time until ready to serve.