Spring Strawberry Cheesecake

Creamy delicious cheesecake with a honey graham crust, refreshingly decadent strawberry sauce, and fresh strawberries on top!

So, first things first, I love cheesecake. I love the way my house smells like honey as I bake the crust, I love the sweet smell of the filling, and the cold creaminess of the first bite dripping in strawberry sauce. When I'm stressed I make a cheesecake and by the time I'm done, I just get in the zone and feel great afterwards. Hands down one of my favorite foods to make!

This recipe can be made without the adding strawberry sauce,whatever topping you enjoy, you can add to it. I love cheesecake with caramel, chocolate, chocolate covered strawberries, so make this with whatever your little heart desires!

FILLING INGRIEDIENTS:

3 eggs

4oz of heavy whipping cream

3tsp of lemon juice

pinch of salt

2 tsp of vanilla extract

24 oz ( 3 packages) of softened cream cheese

1 1/2 cup of granulated sugar

CRUST INGRIEDIENTS:

2 cups of graham cracks crumbs

6 tsp of melted butter

2 TBSP of sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

STRAWBERRY SAUCE

1 carton of strawberries ( chop them all)

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of water

2 TBSP of cornstarch

1 1/2 TBSP of lemon juice

TOTAL TIME: 6 hours

ACTUAL TIME BEING PRODUCTIVE: 1 hour and 1/2

STARTING WITH CRUST:

-Preheat oven to 350

- Start with the crust so take your graham crackers and use a food processor, blend, or put them in a bag and smash them, to get them into crumbs

-Mix in your 2 TBSP of sugar and cinnamon and slowly mix in your butter, Your crumbs should go from powdery crumbly to dense and moldable

-Taking a pie pan, glass dish, or whatever you have, mold the bottom of the pan with your crust. Distribute it evenly.

-Bake for 10-15 minutes

-Take out, set aside and let cool

NOW FILLING:

-In a large bowl, beat your cream cheese until smooth. Add your eggs, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt, continue beating until smooth

-Take your whipping cream and blend ( Yes I said blend because I was lazy and threw it in the blender on high and it got fluffy real quick) . Pour and fold into the filling.

-Pour onto cooled crust and be sure to smooth out the top.

-Bake for 45 minutes, checking on it regularly

-The outer edge should set and the middle of the cheesecake will puff up a bit and wiggle around but it's fine don't worry. Take it out the oven and let cool for 30-45 minutes then put in fridge for 4 hours and just let it all set and firm up!

SAUCE:

-Place your chopped up strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, 1/4 cup of water in a sauce pan on medium heat for 15 minutes, until strawberries break down. Keep stirring

-Mix your cornstarch with some cold water and mix into sauce until the sauce is thickened

-Set aside to cool down

SERVE & DECORATE:

I take some cold sauce and put it on top of the cheesecake and it acts as a just sticky enough base to add about 1/2 a carton of fresh sliced strawberries on top. I absolutely love to serve the sauce with the the fresh strawberries and it is so good and is the final touch that does it for me! Let me know how it goes for you all and what toppings you paired it with!