Fresh Cherry Cheesecake Triangles

When cherries are in season, I get a bit giddy at the grocery store. I picked up a few pounds with the intent to bake, and they were gone in 2 days! I may or may not have eaten over half of them myself, but I blame the rest of the family for gobbling them down. Another trip to the store and 2 large bags were in the fridge, one for snacking, one for baking. Problem solved! (as long as I used them ASAP.) I picked a cherry cheesecake bar recipe and instead of the pie-filling it called for, I threw in a cup of fresh, sweet, black, pitted and halved jewels, ahem, I mean cherries. Did I mention these are low-fat/low-sugar and still rich with flavor??!

Cherry-Cheesecake Triangles

Adapted from Delish.com

Ingredients

    Crust

1-1/2 cups graham-cracker crumbs

6 Tablespoons (unsalted) butter or margarine, melted

2 Tablespoons sugar

   Filling

1-1/2 packages (8oz each) light cream cheese (Neufchatel), softened

1/2 cup sugar (I used Splenda, no problems)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon peel (I omitted this)

1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup fresh pitted, halved, ripe black cherries (or 1 cup lite canned cherry-pie filling if you aren't lucky enough to have fresh.)

  Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Line pan with foil, extending foil over rim; grease foil.
2. Prepare crust: In bowl, with fork, stir graham-cracker crumbs, butter and sugar until blended. With hand, press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
3. Prepare filling: In small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar (or splenda). Beat in eggs, lemon peel and vanilla extract just until blended.
4. Pour cream-cheese mixture evenly over cooled crust. Sprinkle cherries evenly over mixture, gently pressing a few of the cherries into the the cheesecake.
5. Bake until a toothpick inserted int he center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; refrigerate until ready to serve.
6. When cold, use foil overhang to lift cheesecake out of pan; place on cutting board and peel foil away from sides. Cut lengthwise into 2 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 2 squares. Cut each square diagonally into quarters.