How to Make Texas Strawberry Cheesecake
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How to Make Cheesecake Crust
What makes this cheese (how long does cheese last?)cake specifically Texan?... Crushed pecans (how long do pecans last?) in the crust.
Use a blender or a food processor to chop pecans and graham crackers (how long does graham crackers last?) into fine crumbs and combine them in a bowl with ¼ of granulated sugar (how long does sugar last?). Mix in ¼ of a cup of melted butter then transfer it to an 8-inch springform pan lined with parchment paper.
I always prefer buying a blender or food processor, mixing bowl, sugar, springform pan, and parchment paper online because of the added convenience!
Use a pencil to draw and cut out a circle for the bottom of the springform pan and a long strip for the inner sides of the pan. Grease the sides lightly with butter then stick the parchment paper.
How to Make a Basic Cheesecake Filling
A cheesecake filling doesn’t have to be made with cream cheese (how long does cream cheese last?). That's the classic northeastern way of doing it. In many parts of Europe, it is customary to use cottage cheese (how long does cottage cheese last?) or ricotta. I use cream cheese in this recipe but you can easily substitute all or part of the cream cheese for another type.
To make the filling, you can use a stand mixer, a hand mixer, or simply a whisk, combine the cheese with sour cream, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, and eggs. If you’re using more than one egg, add them one at a time and fully incorporate each egg before adding the next, this is to properly emulsify all the ingredients.
Enjoy the convenience of doorstep delivery when you buy a stand mixer, hand mixer, or whisk online!
How to Bake any Cheesecake
We’re using a water bath to bake the cheesecake. For this all you have to do is tightly wrapping the bottom of the springform pan in a couple of layers of aluminum foil so it's watertight, placing it in a roasting dish, filling with water, then baking the cheesecake in the tray.
Why use a water bath?
I suggest baking the cheesecake in a water bath for two reasons:
Hot water up the sides of the springform pan will make sure heat is much more evenly distributed. Even heat is important for the cheesecake because it has a delicate batter, the even distribution leaves a much finer and even surface on the edges.
Humidity in your oven is another huge factor when it comes to making cheesecake. This makes sure an unsavory crust doesn’t form on the top of your cheesecake and keeps the cake nice and soft.
Bake the cheesecake in an oven preheated to 300°F for an hour. To check how ready the cheesecake is, just give the pan a light shake and watch how much the center jiggles. Switch off the oven when there's only slight movement in the center.
To cool the cheesecake, remove it from the water bath and place it back in the oven to cool for at least 2 hours. After the cake has mostly cooled cover it with cling film and place it into the fridge to cool completely.
How to Make Strawberry Gelatine
You could always opt for powdered strawberry jello, but there’s not much fun in that.
You can make your own jello relatively hassle-free with just strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and gelatine. Start by roughly chopping some strawberries, placing them in a cold, non-stick frying pan, coating them with lemon juice and sugar, then turning the heat to medium.
Once the sugar starts to melt, occasionally toss the pan and cook the strawberries until they’re soft and mushy.
Transfer the cooked strawberries into a blender or food processor and pulse the strawberries until it forms a smooth puree. Press the hot puree through a fine strainer then move the juices to a small saucepan and heat it just before a simmer. Whisk in the gelatine and place the liquid into the fridge to set until it’s about as thick as egg whites.
Decorate the cheesecake by decoratively arranging sliced strawberries on top of the cake then pour the thick jello over it. Place the cheesecake back into the fridge for the jello to finish setting then serve it with whipped cream.
Take advantage of the wide variety of options when you shop for a non-stick frying pan, strainer, and saucepan online!
Texas Strawberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 10 ounces Cream Cheese
- 3 tbsp Plain Flour
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Free-Range Eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup Sour Cream
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 2 lbs Fresh Strawberries
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 Sachets Gelatine
Instructions
- Combine the crushed pecans, graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl then transfer it to a lightly greased springform pan lined with parchment paper. Use something hard and flat like the bottom of a glass to compress the ingredients into a firm crust.
- Bake the crust in an oven preheated to 350°F for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside while you prepare the rest of the cake batter.
- In a large mixing bowl (you can also use a stand mixer for this), combine the cream cheese, flour, vanilla extract, sour cream, sugar, and salt. Once combined, crack in the eggs one at a time after one has fully incorporated.
- Transfer the cream cheese mixture into the springform pan, wrap the bottom in foil so the bottom is watertight, then place the whole springform pan into a large, deep baking dish.
- Fill the baking dish with boiling water making sure not to overfill so the water can leak through.
- Bake the cheesecake at 300°F for an hour then switch off the oven, crack the door, and let the cheesecake cool for at least 2 hours before moving it. After two hours, cover it with cling film and place into the fridge until ready to garnish.
- To make the strawberry gelatin chop most of the strawberries into quarters and cover them with sugar and lemon juice and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Drop the strawberries into a cold pan and turn onto medium heat.
- Cook the strawberries and sugar for 10-12 minutes until soft and mushy.
- Place the cooked strawberries into a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth.
- Strain the strawberry puree in a mesh strainer to separate all the seeds then transfer the liquid to a saucepan and reduce the liquid by at least half to concentrate the strawberry flavor.
- Dissolve 1 sachet (12g) of gelatine in hot water then mix into the reduced strawberry juice.
- Place the pre-set gelatin in the fridge for a couple of hours until the liquid is around as thick as egg whites.
- Slice some strawberries into thin wafers then use them to decorate the cheesecake.
- Pour the thickened strawberry liquid over the cheesecake, then place the cake back into the fridge and let the jelly set the rest of the way. Overnight for best results.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
490Fat
30Sat. Fat
13Carbs
53Fiber
4Net carbs
49Sugar
41Protein
7Sodium
525Cholesterol
100
