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Monday, August 20, 2012

Strawberry Cheesecake

I made a cheesecake last weekend for my wedding anniversary. My husband isn't a huge sweet tooth, so it's hard to make him a sweet treat, as he doesn't really care...I suppose I used my anniversary as an excuse to make cheesecake, didn't I? Either way, we both enjoyed it, one of us more than the other.



I used a recipe that called for the ingredients I had on hand, but wow, there are a lot of cheesecake recipes out there. I have a fabulous cookbook FILLED with cheesecakes, each one barely varying from the next, but I still want to try all of them. The recipe I ended up using was from this book. I did my own base, and my own topping.

This cake baked up amazingly. NO CRACKS! And then I covered it with a mess of strawberry sauce. I think I did this last time I made a baked cheesecake too :(

Ingredients:
Base -
250-300g crushed Chocolate Cookies (Arnotts Choc Ripple / Oreo crumbs in North America, or whatever cookie you like best)
125g (1/2 cup) melted Butter

Cake -

500g Cream Cheese, softened
2/3 cup Caster Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
4 Eggs

Topping -
1 punnet (250g) Strawberries
1/4 cup - 1/2 cup Sugar (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F
2. Prepare 20cm / 8" springform cake tin with baking paper, or grease. I always use baking paper, so I can get the cake out of the tin easier.
3. Melt butter & combine with crushed cookies / crumbs. I crush cookies in a large ziplock with a rolling pin. You can also use a food processor. Press mixture into your tin. Using a flat bottomed cup works really well.



4. Beat cream cheese until smooth with electric mixer. Add sugar, vanilla & lemon juice and beat until smooth.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition.
6. Poor mixture over base & bake for 45 minutes, or until done (just firm to the touch). Turn oven off, and open oven door slightly. Allow cake to cool completely in oven, with door ajar. Once cool, refrigerate until time to serve.




7. To make strawberry sauce, you can use your favorite method, or this method, which I just made up; I don't know if there is a proper way to do this. I cut up all the berries I want to use, add some sugar, and stir over medium heat. Once the mixture is hot, I will sometimes crush some of the berries with a potato masher to make more of a sauce. I cook until just boiling, and then allow to cool. Do not allow to burn!





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