vanilla cheesecake squares with minted berries

this is the easiest cheesecake recipe i have ever made. it comes out perfect and even yours truly couldn't mess it up. the crust is amazing - think a caramel cookie crust with almonds. the cheesecake itself is smooth and decadent. i chose to use a mix of berries for the top rather than just blackberries because all the berries at the market looked lovely. i bought some peppermint sugar a little while ago and used that and lemon zest for macerating the berries. these minted berry cheesecake squares are little bits of heaven!