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!
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