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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

Well, I love cheesecake, but most of the time, they are really heavy and I wanted to make something a little lighter for summer. I had some strawberries in my fridge and needed to do something with them. So before I even thought of the cheesecake, I'd decided I wanted to make a strawberry sauce.

That strawberry sauce or coulis, I then used in the cheesecake, to create little pockets of fruity deliciousness in the cheesecake and, I must say, it made it look pretty too.

So, here's what you need to make this delicious and pretty easy dessert.

For the coulis:

2 cups of strawberries, cut in pieces
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cook for about 10 minutes until the strawberries are really soft and almost fall apart. Remove from the heat and put in a blender or use an immersion blender to blend for a smooth consistency. Strain through a sieve to get the seeds out and then put back into the pan, keep simmering until its thick and syrupy in it's consistency, cool.


For the crust:

1 1/4 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/2 cup Sugar
5 Tbs Butter or Margarine melted

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl so everything is well combined, press the mixture in a 9 inch spring form so it is well covered and push up about 1/4 inch on the side, then bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes (this will make the crust a bit crunchier). After 5 minutes take out of the oven and cool.

For the filling:

16 oz Cream Cheese or light Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup boiling Water
2 Tbs Vanilla Extract (I also added the seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean)
1 Lemon, Zest only (finely grated)
1 envelope Gelatine

In a mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese, lemon zest and vanilla. Bring one cup of water to a boil and stir in the sugar and gelatine until it is fully dissolved, about 3- 5 minutes. Then slowly blend the gelatine mixture with the cream cheese.

Pour half of the cream cheese mixture on the cooled crust, then with a spoon drop little pools of strawberry coulis on top of it, so there is a bit all over the mixture, cover with the rest of the cream cheese. drop some more coulis on top and then take a knife and just move it through the coulis drops, so you create a nice marble effect on the cheesecake.

Once you are finished, cover your cheesecake and cool in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.

Then enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake on Foodista

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"A very light and refreshing version of a cheesecake,
with a subtle feel of gelatin, perfect for summer.
Not too sweet or heavy, very nice!"

Thanks again for a nice midday treat!

Bonnie

Anonymous said...

I loved how it wasn't too sweet or too heavy, but a perfect, delightful treat! =) Thank you!

-Kacy

Unknown said...

I lived this cheesecake! Katja did it to share around the office and I'm always looking forward to her creative surprises.

Thanks, Paula.