16 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 to 1 cup strawberry or other fruit preserves
shortbread base (see below)
preserves (see below)
Shortbread base:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Preserves:
3 cups fresh strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in sugar, eggs and vanilla and set aside.
For the shortbread, cut butter into 1/2 in. pieces. Mix with flour, salt and sugar and crumble with hands until mixture forms small lumps. You can also place in food processor and pulse until crumbly. Sprinkle mixture into a 13 by 9 in. pan and press firmly and evenly onto bottom. Bake shortbread in middle of oven until golden, about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, place strawberries and sugar in medium saucepan on medium heat and let cook until it releases a fair amount of liquid (about 5 minutes). Mix water and cornstarch in small cup and pour into strawberry mixture and boil stirring constantly until thickened (about 1 minute). Add vanilla and set aside.
When shortbread is done, evenly spread strawberries over hot shortbread. It should look like this: