Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberry cheesecake is a delightful dessert that combines a creamy, tangy filling with the sweet, vibrant flavour of fresh strawberries. The smooth, rich cream cheese base sits atop a buttery graham cracker crust, providing a perfect contrast of textures. A topping of fresh or macerated strawberries adds a burst of natural sweetness and a pop of colour, making the cheesecake both visually appealing and delicious. Whether baked or no-bake, strawberry cheesecake is a classic treat that’s perfect for celebrations or a simple indulgence.
In this blog post, you will learn how to make a strawberry cheesecake.
What are Graham Crackers?
Made from graham flour which is a coarse-ground whole wheat flour, Graham Crackers, are a type of whole-wheat cookie or biscuit. Because they are made from a distinctive whole wheat flour, they have a distinctive nutty flavour to them.
How to Bake the Graham Cracker Bases:
Below you will find the instructions on how to bake the Graham crackers into the mini pie pans.
Prepare the Crust Mixture: In a large bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar, and melted unsalted butter. Mix until the crumbs are evenly coated. The mixture should resemble wet sand.
Press into the Pans: Press the graham cracker mixture into the bottoms of the mini pie/tart pans, ensuring an even thickness.
Bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C/Gas Mark 4. Bake the mini crusts for about 15 minutes, or until they are lightly golden and set. Allow them to cool completely before adding the filling.
Baking your graham cracker crusts before using them, ensures that the bases have a flavoursome and crunchy base for your desserts. The bases complement a wide variety of fillings.
How to Make the Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling
Before beginning, let your cream cheese soften. To let it soften, leave it on the counter for about an hour before using. Once it is softened, you can begin making the filling. Beat your heavy cream with a handheld mixer in a large bowl until it forms stiff peaks. Next, add the softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract. With your handheld mixer, beat it together on medium speed until you have a smooth cream cheese filling. Take the washed and hulled strawberries and pulse them with the handheld mixer. Add the pulsed mixture into the cream cheese filling. This will turn the cream cheese filling a pretty pink colour and add a lovely strawberry flavour to the filling. Keep the filling in the fridge until ready to use.
What if I Don’t Own Mini Tins for Cheesecakes?
If you do not own mini cheesecake tins for individual cheesecakes and you still want to make this recipe, that is absolutely fine. You definitely still can make this recipe. The only difference is that you are going to use one 9″ pie crust instead of multiple individual cheesecake tins. So instead of mini strawberry cheesecakes, you will have one large strawberry cheesecake. No ingredients need to be switched around. Make the recipe the exact same way with the pie crust tin instead.
Do You Love Cheesecake? Well try making these other cheesecake recipes! Just click on the links below.
- Homemade Graham Cracker Crust
- Apple Crumble Cheesecake No-Bake
- Cherry Cheesecake No-Bake
- Raspberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crumbs: graham cracker crumbs are the base of this cheesecake. They give a nutty flavour, and because they are baked, a nice crunchy texture as well.
Sugar: sugar is added the graham cracker base to help bind the crumbs together and sweetens the base.
Unsalted Butter: unsalted butter makes the base stick together once pressed into the pan. It gives the graham cracker base the structure that it needs.
Cream Cheese: cream cheese provides the cheesecake with the rich creamy texture and tangy flavour. It provides a thick and luxurious consistency that is characteristic of cheesecakes.
Whipped Cream: whipped cream adds a lightness and creaminess to the filling that balances out the cream cheese.
Vanilla Extract: vanilla extract adds sweetness by increasing the flavour of the other ingredients.
Fresh Strawberries: fresh strawberries are split into two portions and half is pulsed to put into the cream cheese filling for extra flavour and a yummy pink colour. The other half is used for decoration and topping.
Tips
- Soften your cream cheese before beginning this recipe by removing it from the fridge and letting it soften on the counter.
- Make sure the graham cracker bases are cooled before adding the cream cheese filling to them. If they are not fully cooled, then the cream cheese filling will melt.
- Use high-quality graham crackers for the best flavour. You can use regular, honey, or even chocolate-flavoured graham crackers.
- Typically, granulated sugar is used, but brown sugar can also be used for a deeper, more caramel-like flavour.
- Unsalted butter is commonly used to control the amount of salt in the recipe, though salted butter can be used for an additional hint of flavour.
Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Base
- 2/3 c. Graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 c. unsalted butter 60g
- 2 tsp. sugar granulated
Strawberry Cream Filling
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened (227g)
- 1 c. heavy cream whipped
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tbsp. sugar granulated
- 4 oz. strawberries hulled and pulsed
Topping
- 4 oz. strawberries washed and hulled
Instructions
Graham Cracker Base
- Preheat the oven to 350℉/175℃/Gas Mark 4.
- In a small bowl, pour your Graham cracker crumbs and 2 tsp. of sugar. Melt the butter and pour it over top of the crumbs. Mix together until it forms the appearance of wet sand.
- Take the crumb mix and place it into the base of each of the individual cheesecake molds. Place the molds onto a baking sheet and place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before putting the strawberry cream cheese filling in. You can put them in the refrigerator to help them cool quicker.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling
- Pour the heavy cream into a medium bowl and beat with your handheld mixer until stiff peaks are formed approximately 5 minutes.
- Add your softened cream cheese, vanilla, and 1 tbsp. of granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until the sugar and cream cheese are mixed together with the whipped cream.
- Take the 4 oz. of hulled and washed strawberries and pulse them with your hand mixer. Pour the pulsed strawberries into the cream cheese filling and beat again until the mixture is a lovely pink colour. Keep in the fridge until needed.
Putting it all together
- Remove your individual, mini, Graham cracker crusts from the refrigerator making sure that they are completely cool.
- Spoon the strawberry cream cheese filling into the crusts and smooth it out evenly across the crust.
- Take your washed, hulled, and dried strawberries and place them on the top of the cheesecakes.
- Place the mini strawberry cheesecakes into the freezer for at least an hour before serving.
Notes
In this blog post, you learned how to make delicious mini strawberry cheesecakes.