Berry-Topped Shortbread Bars

I have been on a serious fresh fruit kick this year. Since Eric's short list of fruit he will eat consists of oranges, clementines, crisp apples, grapes, and watermelon, I usually don't purchase a ton of fresh fruit because it means I will have to eat every bit of it. I mean I understand texture aversions for berries and bananas, but who doesn't like the flavor of cantaloupe and pineapple for crying out loud!? This year I said the heck with it and have been tearing up some fresh strawberries (drizzled with honey) and cantaloupe. I even stepped out on a limb and purchased blueberries from COSTCO. Talk about a food commitment! With the abundance of fresh fruit in the fridge, I came to the conclusion that we needed a fruit dessert this weekend. Not being much of a fan of cooked fruit I whipped up my own concoction. We'll call it Berry-Topped Shortbread Bars, and it delicious!  It was crisp, light, and tasted like summer!

What You Need:

Crust:

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

Whipping Cream Cheese Frosting:

1- 8oz package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 cups heavy cream

Topping:

1 cup fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup blueberries

any other fruit you have on hand

How to Make It:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of a 9" x 13" glass baking dish.

Make the crust: Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer until creamy. Add the flour and salt and beat until combined. Press dough evenly into the bottom of the greased baking dish and bake for 30-45 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, set aside to cool completely (I let mine cool over night since I didn't started cooking until 9pm).

While the crust is baking, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a mixer using the paddle attachment.  Once it's combined, switch to the whisk attachment and turn the mixer on medium. Slowly pour in the heavy cream. Continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak.

Once the crust is cool, spread cream cheese mixture over the top of the shortbread. Depending on how thick you want your whipped cream layer, you may have a cup or more frosting leftover....save it.  It is perfect to dip your finger extra strawberries or blueberries in.

Top the whipped cream layer with the fresh fruit in whatever pattern you want.  I did lines, but you could do a flag design for the 4th of July or just sprinkle the fruit randomly. Refrigerate for an hour or 2 so the frosting can set.  When you're ready to serve them, pull them out of the fridge and cut into whatever sized bars you'd like.

Enjoy!