AMAZING Strawberry Cheesecake!

I have recently become MILDLY addicted to Pintrest. It’s a pretty cool idea and a great way to find inspiration for just about anything in your life. A number of my friends have been really into it because there are a ton a wedding-related ideas and kid-related ideas. (Apparently a majority of my friends can pretty much be be grouped into one of these two categories.)

Pintrest has also become home to a number of beautiful looking recipes from blogs all over the world and I happened to come across an amazing looking picture for a Strawberry Strawberry Cheesecake from Epicurious when I was searching for something to do with the ton of strawberries that were sitting in my refrigerator.

As usual, I used this recipe as a jumping off point for my own variation. I also started with a pre-made graham cracker pie crust instead of making my own crust. (I don’t own a springform pan so that option was out.)

ingredients

crust

1 pre-made graham cracker crust

filling

About 2 cups fresh strawberries
1 1/2 8-ounce packages light cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

topping

1/3 cup apricot jelly (strawberry or any other jelly could work here too)
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

directions

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Puree thawed strawberries and juices in processor or blender until smooth. (I had to add a little water to get this started.)
Add 2 cups puree, cream cheese and sugar to processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
Blend in flour, egg, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and almond extract; process until well blended.
Transfer filling to prepared crust.
Bake 1 hour or until center is softly set and edges begin to color, puff and crack.
Place hot cheesecake on rack. Refrigerate uncovered on rack until cold.
Stir jelly in heavy saucepan over low heat until melted. Add the berry slices to coat.
Pour on top of the cake and arrange.
Chill at least 1 hour before serving.

Of course my pie did not come out as pretty as the professionally photographed ones, but it tasted AMAZING. Next time I will probably leave the strawberries for the topping whole, to look better visually. Other than that, the recipe was perfect! I highly recommend trying this recipe if you like strawberries. It was really easy to make and the result was delicious, light, fluffy and full of strawberry flavor!