There’s few things that can rival a delicious cheesecake as the ending of a good meal. Here’s a great recipe I’d like to share with you. It’s a baked strawberry cheesecake recipe from page 13 of my cookbook 91 Cheesecake Recipes.
Crust
1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
2 T sugar
2 T melted butter
Filling
20 ounce (2-1/2 pkgs – 8 ounce each) softened cream cheese
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs, beaten
Topping
1 cup strawberries, mashed
1 cup sugar
3 T cornstarch
1/3 c water
Mix cracker crumbs with sugar and melted butter. Press the mixture onto the bottom of a 9″ springform pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Whip cream cheese until it is smooth using a food processor or an electrical mixer. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla. Pour the filling on the pre-baked crust in the springform pan.
Bake at 300° for one hour or until the center is set. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
Glace
Blend the sugar and cornstarch together in a small saucepan. Stir in water and strawberries, then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and begins to boil. Let boil one minute, constantly stirring. When the glace has cooled completely spread it on the cool cheesecake.
Refrigerate for 3 hours or more before serving.
How To Make Great Cheesecake
Here’s some additional tips you can use to make your cheesecake a success:
To soften the cream cheese is to leave it in room temperature until it’s softer than refrigerated. Letting it reach room temperature is fine, just don’t leave it out too long.
You can prevent a cheesecake from cracking by running a thin knife around the edge, between the crust and the pan, just after removing the cake from the oven.
When using a springform pan let the cheesecake cool completely before removing the sides of the pan. Refrigerate before serving.
You can cut a cheesecake into perfect slices by using dental floss instead of a regular knife. Make sure you have a lot of unflavored, unwaxed dental floss available.
Saw your way down through the cheesecake, using lots of sawing motion and pressure when cutting through the crust, then let loose of one end and pull the floss out from the other end. Don’t bring it back to the top, it would just make a mess.
Change floss, and wash or wipe hands often to avoid it being slippery.
When you slice cheesecake with a knife, the knife should have a long and thin blade to make clean cuts. Remember to dip the knife in warm water and clean the blade between each slice. That way the slices gets a nice and clean cut without crushing the cake.
