Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle

Strawberries...mmmmmm!!

It's getting to be strawberry season soon.  So along with strawberry freezer jam, fresh strawberry sorbet and strawberry peach jam, you've got to make this as well!  

I love trifles.  This one is fabulous with the fresh strawberries, cream cheese whipped cream, chocolate shavings and pound cake...wow...amazingly delicious!

And I love how cute they look.  I also love to make individual trifles.  You could use mini trifle bowls (you can find them at walmart for a couple bucks) or plastic cups, glass canning jars, etc. and they turn out so cute.

So, when you grab a bunch of strawberries this season to stock up on your jam, make sure you make this at least once...your family will thank you!

Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle

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2 pints fresh strawberries, sliced

1 cup sugar, divided

2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons orange juice

3 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

1 loaf (about 12-14 oz.) pound cake, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated

extra strawberries & chocolate for garnish

In a large bowl toss the strawberries with 1/2 cup of sugar, set aside.

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, orange juice and remaining sugar until smooth.  Fold in the whipped cream; set aside.

Drain the strawberries, reserving juice, set the berries aside.  Gently toss cake cubes with reserved juice.

Place half of the cake cubes into the bottom of your trifle bowl.  Top with 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture, half of the strawberries and half of the grated chocolate.  Repeat layers.  Top with reamining cream cheese mixture.  Garnish with strawberries and grated chocolate.  Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.  (I think it's even better the next day!)

Yield: 14-16 servings

Lime Cheesecake with Blackberry Sauce

Here's a recipe as promised.  Tony's birthday cake...CHEESECAKE!  This is the perfect summertime cheesecake.  The lime was so refreshing, I absolutely loved it.  And the sweet blackberry sauce on top was just the perfect compliment!  This is a winner!!

Lime Cheesecake with Blackberry Sauce

Recipe from The Farm Girl

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Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs, crushed finely

6 Tablespoons sugar

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake:

3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

Juice of 2 limes

Zest of 2 limes

Blackberry sauce:

6 oz. blackberries, rinsed and drained (frozen works great!)

2 Tablespoons sugar

1½ teaspoons cornstarch

1½ teaspoons cold water

To make the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 325 ˚F. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Stir together until well combined and moistened. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth. Gradually mix in the sugar. Blend in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lime juice and lime zest until well combined. Pour the filling over the graham cracker crust.

Bake for 55-65 minutes or until the center is set. Turn the oven off and prop the door open about 4 inches. Let the cheesecake stand 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool 10 minutes. Carefully remove the sides of the pan and let cool to room temperature on the rack. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before slicing and serving.

To make the blackberry sauce, combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries begin to release some of their juices and the mixture is simmering. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl; whisk until smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture to the blackberries and mix well. Reduce the heat to medium and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a low boil and thickens slightly. Remove from the heat, the sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.

Drizzle the sauce over the cheesecake before serving!  Enjoy!

I just had to throw in this picture!  Here's our family celebrating at Tony's parents house...he's the big 35!  (Incidentally those candles worked perfectly to cover up the crack in the middle of the cheesecake!:))

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan-Gingersnap Crust

ere's another recipe that Kyla and I made for out Thankful for Pie Night...yeah, I know it's not a pie, but I just can't pass up making a cheesecake whenever I can... Anyway, this was Kyla's first REAL cheesecake and it was a lot of fun to teach her the basics of making a cheesecake and I think she enjoyed it as well. This is really rich but is delicious...found the recipe over at Our Best Bites.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan-Gingersnap Crust

Recipe by Our Best Bites

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Crust:

1 3/4 C gingersnap crumbs (about 30 small cookies)

6T real butter, melted

3 T brown sugar

3/4 C ground pecans

Filling:

3 8oz blocks cream cheese

3/4 C canned pumpkin puree

6 oz melted white chocolate (that's about 1 C white chocolate chips)

1 C sugar

3 eggs

2 t vanilla

1/4 t nutmeg

1 1/2 t cinnamon

1/8 t cloves

Topping:

- 1 C whipping cream, beat with 1/2 tsp vanilla and 4 Tbs powdered sugar until medium peaks form.

- 1/3 C roughly chopped pecans, either toasted or caramelized

- 2 Tablespoons jarred caramel sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Using 2 large pieces of heavy duty foil, securely wrap the bottom and outside of your cheesecake pan. This will prevent leaks when using the water bath. (just to reiterate...make sure you wrap it SECURELY...you don't want water leaking into your cheesecake or it makes a HoRrIbLe mess!)

For Crust:

Use a food processor (or blender as I did) to crush gingersnaps. Then do pecans. Combine gingersnaps, pecans, brown sugar, and butter and stir well to combine. Press into a 9" spring form pan. Evenly spread across the bottom of pan and up the sides about 1 inch.

To melt chocolate, place in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. Set aside.

With an electric mixer beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Add pumpkin, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

With the mixer running, slowly add in white chocolate in a steady stream (or steady blobs).

Pour mixture on top of the crust.

For water bath: (I sometimes just completely skip this step...it may crack on you, but it will still be good!)

Place cheesecake pan inside of a larger pan. The larger pan should be at least 2-3 inches in depth. Place in pre-heated oven. With a kettle or pitcher filled with hot water, pour water into the larger pan about halfway up, or approximately 1 1/2 to 2 inches.

Bake for 60-75 minutes or until set. The center should be almost set. It will finish cooking while cooling.

When it's done, remove from oven and place on a rack until completely cool. Place in the fridge for at least 12 hours. This is a very soft cheesecake so sufficient chilling is a must!

When ready to serve spread sweetened whipped cream on top, drizzle caramel sauce over it, and sprinkle with pecans.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake!

I LOVE cheesecake and I beleive this is my first real cheesecake recipe (I only count baked cheesecakes as real...althought the others are really good as well, there's nothing like a really good baked cheesecake!).

This recipe won me 2nd place in a Holiday cooking contest a few years ago and I've made it quite a few times since then. But not as often as I would have liked...when I make a cheesecake I tend to eat the whole thing within a few days and so I just try to not even tempt myself!! Anyway, it was Father's Day on Sunday and Tony requested a cheesecake (they are one of his favorties also) and so here it is!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Recipe from Taste of Home

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1 3/4 cups crushed choclate chip cookies or chocolate wafer crumbs (I cannot find chocolate wafer crumbs anymore...the only thing I saw was the chocolate teddy grahams but they were a little expensive so I just used regular graham crackers, but I have used chocolate chip cookies before and that is yummy as well)

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

FILLING:

3 packages (8oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

COOKIE DOUGH:

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided

In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the botoom and 1 inch up the sides of a greased 9 inch springform pan; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low just until combined. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat just until blende3d. Pour over crust; set aside. In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add water and vanilla. Gradually add flour. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls over filling, gently pushing dough below surface (dough should be completely covered by filling). Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight; remove sides of pan. Sprinkle with remaining chips.

One thing I have learned over the years with cheese cake is that it is best a couple of days after you make it. It gets creamier and yummier the longer it sits...the hard thing is to wait to eat it...we usually don't so the first pieces we have are really good, but by the third day they are so heavenly!!

Don't let this recipe scare you, it really isn't hard and you will be so pleased with the results!!

No-bake Cheesecake

This is a really light and fluffy no-bake cheesecake recipe. It make sa large sheet cake of cheesecake so it's good for a crowd and is really yummy. Just top with whatever fruit you like or eat it plain!

No-bake cheesecake

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3 pkgs. graham crackers

2 cubes butter or margarine, melted

Mix crackers and butter and press onto the bottom of a large cookie sheet. I like a nice thick crust on mine and this recipe makes a pretty thin crust, so if you like it thicker like I do you could either add another 1 1/2 packages of graham cracker and 1 cube melted butter or just double it to 6 packages crackers and 4 cubes of butter! Wow...that's A LOT of butter!:)

3 packages (8oz.) cream cheese, softened

2 cups sugar

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Add and mix just until combined 2 large (12oz.) cartons of cool whip (I couldn't find 12oz. cartons at walmart...just 8 and 16oz. sizes, so for those who are a little slow when it comes to math:) that is either 3-8oz. size or 1-16oz. size plus 1-8oz. size cool whip...the 2nd option seems to be a little cheaper if you're counting pennies unless you find the 8oz. size on sale:)).

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the graham cracker crust and refrigerate for an hour before serving. Top with fruit of your choice.