I LoVe Me Some Cheesecake!

I've had it out at restaurants before. All dolled up with fancy white chocolate flakes all over and sauce drizzled all cutesy like, but I've never made one myself. I cant stand having to pay so much for one little itsy-bitsy slice of cake. It's just silly to me. But I still never tried to make one.

Honestly, I've always been intimidated by cheesecake. Rumors of failed attempts have always led me astray from trying to make it myself. Well...that has ended. I will no longer fear the scrumdidilyumptious strawberry cheesecake. For I have succeeded in my attempt and am now an professional established cheesecake cooker-upper.

Today, I conquered my fear.

*smile*

It was a lot easier than I thought. A lot of fun to be completely honest. That's if you like to mix stuff up and measure ingredients.

 Oh...and taste test along the way too.

The recipe I used didn't use a graham cracker crust, so I added that part in myself.

When I went shopping for all the ingredients, I found graham crackers crumbs. Saved me some time, and surprisingly, they were cheaper.

I followed the directions on the box they came in and baked them in the oven for 8 minutes and let it cool all the way.

Here's the cheesecake recipe:

2 - 8oz packages of reduced fat cream cheese, softened

1 - 15 oz container part skim ricotta cheese

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 large eggs beaten

2 Tbsp lemon juice (I used half of a lemon, using the other half for the topping)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp cornstarch

2 cups nonfat sour cream at room temp.

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled.

For the topping:

2 Tbsp lemon juice (the other half of your lemon)

1 cup strawberry fruit spread

15 or more large strawberries (I used a LOT more b/c I love strawberries!!)

I added 1/2 cup of orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In your mixer, mix the cream cheese and ricotta til smooth at a medium speed. Slowly beat in sugar, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla. Add flour and cornstarch and fold it in with a spatula until it's blended well.

Fold in the sour cream and butter. Pour the batter into a spring form pan.

Now..you'll want to put your pan into a deep roasting pan and fill it 3/4 of the way with water like below. This will help to cook the cheesecake evenly all the way through.

Bake for 60-70 minutes or until the cake is firm around the edges. Remove the cake from the oven and from the deep roasting pan. Turn your oven off and place the cake back in the oven.

You will now let your cake cool in the oven for another 2 hours. This will finish the cooking process without using direct heat. After 2 hours, place the cake in the fridge for at least 2 hours to completely cool.

For the topping: Mix your lemon juice, fruit spread, strawberries and 2 Tspn water and orange juice if you choose in a small bowl. Mix well and place in fridge.

It turned out REALLY good!!!

Everyone liked it...even the girls. They got a little taste.

I hope you try it out. If you do, let me know and maybe even share some  of your pictures.

I'm sharing this recipe with friends over at:

and

Have a wonderful Thursday!!