Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake

I have a confession to make. I love Justin Bieber. His new music is so good, and I feel the need to have a dance party every day with his new album. Okay fine, I had a dance party five minutes ago. I’m glad that’s off my chest, and I hope you aren’t judging me too harshly.

My love for chocolate covered strawberries, however, I will never be embarrassed about. Chocolate covered strawberries are just so delicious. The juicy strawberries and the silky milk chocolate, there is just nothing better. Yumm. My roommates know how intense my love for these delicious little treats are because we have two rules in our home: no matter what, if it is snowing, make sure I know, and no matter where I am or what I am doing if chocolate covered strawberries enter our home COME FIND ME. 

Just look at those beauts!

I wanted to come up with something delicious for Valentine’s Day, and I knew I wanted to include chocolate covered strawberries, after all, they will be my date this year. So I decided to put them on top of a cheesecake!

When it comes to cheesecake I can be a little picky. Most homemade cheesecakes I’ve had bake up funny and get that weird skin on top. Yes, skin. That weird yellow layer that you can literally peel off and it grosses me out. Cheesecakes can also get too spongy and that is not what I’m looking for when I’m craving cheesecake. I want smooth and creamy with preferably no skin. My mom would always make no bake cheesecakes growing up which are delicious! By not baking them you prevent weird skin and sponginess.

I almost did a no bake for this recipe but I decided I really wanted to find an amazing baked cheesecake that stays thick and creamy and I found it! I love this cheesecake and once you add a chocolate covered strawberry on top you will wonder why you don’t always combine the two. This is the perfect treat for Valentine’s Day or any day of the year actually. 

Be prepared to practice some major self control to not eat all of your strawberries before they make their way to the cheesecake. It will be hard, but you can do it. I believe in you. We all believe in you!

Painting only one nail is all the rage right now and all the cool kids are doing it. Promise.

Some cheesecake baking tips:

1. Bake the cheesecake in a water bath. Place your springform pan inside a roasting pan and fill the pan with hot water. This helps the cheesecake bake evenly. This isn’t proven but I also think it might help the cheesecake not be spongy.
2. Let the cheesecake cool properly. When the cheesecake is done, crack the oven door and turn the oven off. If you let it cool in the oven for an hour the cheesecake won’t crack.

Ingredients 

For the crust

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, about one sleeve
• 5 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar

For the cheesecake

• 3 (8oz) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups greek yogurt, room temperature

For the topping

• 1 pound of strawberries
• 1 (11.5 oz) bag of chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Wrap 2 or 3 pieces of aluminum foil around the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. This will prevent any water soaking into your cheesecake while baking in the water bath.
3. Break up graham crackers and put pieces in a food processor. Grind the pieces into fine crumbs.
4. Pour the melted butter and sugar into the crumbs and pulse a few times until well mixed. The crumbs should look like wet sand. Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of your pan and up the sides a little bit, if you wish.
5. Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 325°
6. In a medium sized bowl mix the cream cheese, on low, until smooth. Add in the sugar and salt and mix until well incorporated.
7. Add eggs one at time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
8. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and greek yogurt. Mix until combined.
9. Pour mixture onto the crust and place the pan inside a roasting pan. With the roasting pan on the oven rack carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan. You need enough water to come up about 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan.
10. Bake the cheesecake for 50-60 minutes or until the middle just slightly jiggles when you shake the pan.
11. Take the springform pan out of the water bath and place it back in the oven. Leave the oven door cracked and turn the oven off. Let cool in the oven for 1 hour.
12. After an hour take the cheesecake out of the oven and run a knife around the edge. Continue to let the cheesecake cool to room temperature and then chill the cheesecake for at least 4 hours in the fridge.
13. For the chocolate covered strawberries, wash the strawberries and gently pat the strawberries to dry.
14. Melt a bag of chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir the chocolate and heat for another 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until the chocolate is completely melted.
15. Place about 1/4 cup of the chocolate into a plastic bag. Snip a small piece off a corner and drizzle the chocolate over the cheesecake.
16. Dip each strawberry in the remaining chocolate. Tilt the strawberry back and forth in the chocolate to make sure each is well coated. Let the strawberries harden on wax paper.
17. When you are ready to eat the cheesecake, place the strawberries around the edge of the cheesecake and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Bridget Edwards