Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars

This is a recipe that I "adapted"...and I use that term VERY loosely...from one of my favorite foodie blogs, Our Best Bites.

So,it's confession time, I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with lemon. Just thinking about lemons makes my mouth water, and not in a pucker-up-your-face type of a way, but in a oh-my-goodness-die-of-happiness type of a way. For Mother's Day I wanted something lemonicious, and I did not want my husband to botch it up by making it himself (you know I love you Todd), so I pulled out this recipe and kicked it up a notch. Notice how there are no pictures? That's right, it was so amazingly delicious that the poor camera never even made it out of its bag before Todd and I ate it all up. Mmmmm.... So, without further ado, here is the recipe.

Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars

(original recipe: Creamy Lemon Bars)

20 Nilla Wafers, finely crushed
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold real butter
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (you can use 1/3-less fat cream cheese)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. grated lemon peel, divided
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 8-inch square baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Spray lightly with non-stick spray and set aside.

In a bowl, combine Nilla Wafer crumbs, 1/2 cup flour and the brown sugar. Chop butter into small pieces and then cut into crumb mixture with a pastry blender.

Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 min.

While crust is cooking, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 2 Tbsp. flour, and baking powder; mix well. Blend in 1 Tbsp. lemon zest, and lemon juice.

(This is where I "changed" the recipe, and if you ask me, it was pure genius!)

I mushed up some raspberries and spread it on the crust BEFORE I poured my lemon mixture on. I used frozen raspberries that I had set out to thaw and then drained. I gave the crust a good coating of raspberry, but not too much that the seeds would get in the way of the lemon's creamy goodness.

Bake 25 to 30 min. or until center is set. Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. These bars improve with time. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and remaining 2 Tbsp. grated lemon peel just before cutting into squares to serve. Store leftover squares in refrigerator.