For the Love of Cheesecakes

Although for many people, Valentine’s Day is just another commercial holiday, I see it as a fun opportunity to remind people we love them…and a great excuse to prepare a nice meal! This year, there was an unexpected cheese theme. It all started with my sudden urge to try making a cheesecake and was followed by our constant craving for cheese fondue. During my last trip to Target, I found a fair amount of Valentine candy as well as adorable individual heart-shaped baking pans. I spent Saturday morning looking for a cheesecake recipe and ended up making a modified version of Cooking Classy’s recipe.

Strawberry and Oreo Cheesecake:

(4 individual baking pans, 12 muffin-size or 1 regular cake)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of crumbled Oreo cookies (with cream removed)
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
• 1.5 cups of strawberries
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 2 packages of cream cheese, softened
• Zest of one lemon
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/4 cup of sour cream

What’s Next?

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F.
2. In a bowl, stir the Oreo crumbs and the melted butter until evenly moistened. Place the crumbs at the bottom of your dish/es. Press firmly into an even layer.
3. Bake the crusts for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool.
4. To make the strawberry coulis, place the strawberries in a blender or food processor to make them mostly liquid. Add a little bit of water if needed. Put blended strawberries through a strainer to eliminate any chunks or seeds. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and flour. Using a stand-mixer (or electric mixer), add the cream cheese and lemon zest and blend until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and sour cream until combined. Tap your bowl against your countertop several times to release the air bubbles that might have formed in the mixture.
6. Divide the mixture among the baking dishes. Fill each dish nearly full.
7. Add a few dollops of strawberry coulis on each dish and create patterns with a toothpick.
8. Bake the cheesecakes for 20-25 minutes or until they are puffed and nearly set.
9. Allow to cool completely, then refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.
10. For serving, you can drizzle some strawberry coulis on your cheesecake.

The result was very tasty. I was so proud to have it taste like actual cheesecake! If anything, I could have mixed more strawberry coulis in the cheesecake mixture.

This Valentine included cheese fondue, good wine and my first cheesecakes. Not bad at all. 🙂

I hope you all had a love-filled weekend and wish you all the love in the world, every day of the year!

Past posts about Valentine’s Day:

• Paleo Valentine Treats
• Strawberry Chocolate Muffins
• When Snow and Hearts are on the Forecast
• Happy Heart Day!