Cheesecake!!

Sour Cream topped Cheesecake w/ Strawberry/Moscato Dessert Sauce

I'm BACK!!!! Whew!! It's been a really long time since I've had the chance to post something! School is now over for the quarter (as of yesterday WOO HOO!!) and will free up some extra time for the next two weeks until I go BACK to class/kitchen for my FINAL quarter before I graduate in December! It's been one heck of a journey....but...we'll touch on that another time. Now is the time to talk about CHEESECAKE!!


Ok, so a few weeks ago-I made dinner for a friend of mine and because they had never experienced The Culinary Goddess "cuisine," I decided to go all out. They told me that they didn't care for "sweets" but loved Cheesecake, which was a good thing because I love it as well. It's been a while since I've actually made a "real" one-so I thought if I were going to do it, I may as well as do it right and buy a spring form pan. I did and well, the rest is history! My friend LOVED it!! Here's the recipe and photos!! You can make it with any topping/sauce you desire. It's really easy and your friends/family will be sooo impressed! So here we go!!


Recipe:


1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 TBL sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted


4-8oz packages Cream Cheese (softened)
4 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup sugar




Preheat oven to 325F. Mix cracker crumbs, butter and sugar (I added a bit of cinnamon) until all ingredients are incorporated. Press mixture into the bottom/side of spring form pan, and bake for 7-8 minutes. Take out and let cool.
Mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and eggs (adding one at a time) until smooth and creamy. I added a bit of fresh lemon juice and zest just to "brighten" up the flavor a bit. At this point you can add any type of flavoring you desire! (even chocolate!) 
When  mixed, pour into the cooled crust.

Bake 55 min. or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours before adding your topping.

Now while the cheesecake was baking, it was time to make the sauce. I had a pint of Fresh strawberries, (I save a few of the bigger, redder ones for presentation), and cleaned and removed the tops-then pureed them in the blender. Pour the puree in a sauce pot, add 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of Moscato, and about 1tsp of lemon zest and bring to a boil....

You then want to turn this down on a med-low heat and let reduce until a nice shiny, thickened sauce. Also taste it along the way...it may need more sugar, or zest...just depends on your taste buds!

Once finished, let cool for a few hours or overnight. As it cools, it will thicken more. So now once the cake is cooled, take it out of the spring form pan and get ready to top it.

I, for one-am not a big fan of canned pie filling on cheesecake...YES I will eat it (duh! lol) but not my fav. So when I have the opportunity to make a cheesecake, I always top it with a Sour Cream topping. 


1 Cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup Sugar ( add/subtract as you see fit)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Lemon zest (optional)


Mix all together, correct sweetness as desired-refrigerate until ready to spread onto cake

For garnish, I took the larger strawberries and make cuts underneath the green tops, just enough to be able to "fan" them out a bit. I macerated them in a bit of sugar and Mosacto and just right before served, topped each piece of cake with 1 strawberry.

<This was the "demo" piece the night before...I couldn't wait to try it! lol! The first pic is the piece I served to my friend!>


And that's it!! Simple, easy and oh so elegant!! LOVED IT!!


I don't know what's gotten into me, but I've caught the "baking bug!" Next blog about this amazing Focaccia I made last night soon to come!! Until then sweeties, EAT CAKE and LIVE LIFE!! <3