Patriotic Cheesecake Cookies

Tender low carb cream cheese cookies studded with fresh strawberries and some blueberries, for easy 4th of July entertaining!

My husband and I have joked for ages that having kids is simply a source of free manual labour. Of course, when they are little, you’re the one doing all the work, and back-breaking work at that. But they are starting to get to the age where I can reasonably give them tasks and expect them to be completed properly. Not without plenty of complaining much of the time, but I am willing to overlook that in favour of having my dishwasher emptied and my recycling sorted.And since New England strawberries are finally, FINALLY in season, I got my kids out into the fields last Sunday and put them to work. At least, that was the plan. The pick-your-own farm we always go to had its Strawberry Festival the day prior and things were pretty picked over, so we had to work pretty hard to fill our four quart baskets. You would think those little bodies would be good at crouching down and finding juicy red berries, but such is not the case. Unlike Mum and Dad, who are willing to stand in the hot sun and wander the dusty rows in search of fresh strawberries, the kids wilt faster than a lily in the desert. They pick a few good ones, pop most of them into their mouths and then ask if they can go see the farm animals. Oh well, I am convinced that this is good for them and that one day they will appreciate all of these experiences. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Four quarts may seem like a lot of berries but we can go through them pretty darn fast. As we are coming home from the fields, I am always scheming and mulling over recipe ideas, but we eat the majority of them fresh and I never do more than wash them and cut them up for snacks. But I’ve been thinking of trying cheesecake cookies for a while and decided it was a perfect use for some of our hard-won strawberries. And with the 4th of July coming up, I thought it would be fun to pop a few blueberries in there as well, and make them all patriotic.

And of course since I am not actually American, and Canada Day is coming up soon as well, I left some with just strawberries. Whatever side of the border you are on, you can whip up these easy cookies and show your true colours!