Red, white and blue cookie bars! Happy 4th of July. I wanted to do a really tasty dessert with a 4th of July theme, and thought that strawberries, blueberries and cream cheese would be perfect. I just didn’t know what to do with them. The combination is really good.
Well, Mary Jo came through again and said, “why not put it on a cookie?” Okay. You make a cookie and I’ll put on the toppings. She put together a plain sugar cookie dough and made sugar cookie bars. All this required was to spread the cookie dough out on a 10″ X 15″ cookie sheet and bake it. Cut out a piece of the baked cookie bar and add the cream cheese and fruit. Sounded pretty good to me! But I figured that the taste should be kicked up with another flavor…tangy lemon curd. 
The sweetened cream cheese and the lemon curd really compliment each other and make the combination delicious. I just layered the cream cheese and lemon curd on to the cookie bar, then cut the strawberry into a fan, added blueberries and they were done–red, white and blue cookie bars! If you’re not sure how to fan a strawberry, there are tons of videos on youtube.com that show you how to do it. It’s really easy, just make sure you use a really sharp knife. Here’s one of the videos I picked out to let you link right to the clip. You can cut the strawberry with the leaves on or carefully cut them off. Either way the berry will fan out.
Cut the cookie bar into any shape you want, either with a knife or with cookie cutters. This topping would also work on other baked goods. Home made or store bought pound cake or shortbread would be really good, too.
The thing is, the combination of the cream cheese and lemon curd is awesome. Heck, put it on a piece of white bread! It is delicious and sure to please. I know that Mary Jo gives it two thumbs up! And that pleases me.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
Fruit
- Strawberries and blue berries , rinsed and dried
Sugar Cookie Bars
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup butter , room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese , room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lemon Curd
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest , optional
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons cold butter , cut into 4 pieces
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Bars
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line a 10" X 15" jelly roll pan with heavy duty foil, then butter the foil or use non-stick spray; set aside.
- Combine sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, and egg in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until well combined.
- Spread the cookie dough onto the foil until even and smooth.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden.
- Using the foil, lift the cookie bars off the pan and set on a rack until completely cool.
Cream cheese filling:
- Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a small bowl and beat until smooth. Set aside.
- Lemon Curd:
- Combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon zest, and granulated sugar in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat for 5 or 6 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thick and coats the spoon. Immediately remove from the heat and add the pieces of butter, one at a time, stirring them in and returning the pan to the heat, if the mixture cools too much. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming. Set aside.
- Cut bars into any shape or size, then spread with some of the cream cheese filling, then add a layer of lemon curd. Top with the fanned strawberries and scatter a few blueberries on top.
The combination of sweetened cream cheese, lemon curd, cookie, and fruit is just sublime! I was surprised when Joe showed me that the lemon curd doesn’t include any cornstarch or other thickener; the eggs and lemon juice do the trick.
We will be making these for a picnic tomorrow!