Monday, December 26, 2011

A dessert to please the whole family

My brother and his family are coming tomorrow and Mom asked me to bring a cheesecake.  My first cheesecake thought is chocolate, but my brother isn't a big chocolate fan (one of us is adopted I think).  So, I was searching for a cheesecake recipe that didn't have chocolate and it just made me sad.
But then I had an idea.  A wonderful idea.


Here's what I did; I made brownies in my cheesecake pan then I found a super easy no-bake cheesecake recipe and modified it to this;
1 (250g) pkg cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup of whipping cream, with 1/4 cup icing sugar, whipped to soft peaks
Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until it's smooth and fluffy.  Fold in the whipped cream.  Spread the cheese mixture on top of the brownie.  Refrigerate overnight to let it firm up.

A classic topping is a can of cherry pie filling, but I'd rather make my own filling.  I bought a bag of frozen whole strawberries.  I put half of them in a small saucepan along with about 1/3 cup of water and 2 Tbsp brown sugar.  I let them simmer until they were soft, then I pureed them with my immersion blender.  Let the mixture simmer until it's thickened.  You can thicken it with cornstarch if you like.  Meanwhile, I chopped the other half of the strawberries into large chunks.  Stir the strawberry chunks into the strawberry puree.  This would work with any frozen or fresh fruit.  Mangos, peaches or mixed berries would be delicious.

I will serve it tomorrow and post pictures and reviews from family members.

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