Cheesecake Fail, Cheesecake Success!

The man recently informed me that he loves cheesecake. Why he never told the lady who loves to bake, I have no idea. So, for his birthday this year, I decided I was going to make him a cheesecake. Since we were having a couple of people over on the 4th of July, I figured that would be a good time to make it, since his birthday was just a few days later.

Did you know that there are about 100 completely different cheesecake recipes with completely different ingredients? Sheesh.

I've never made a cheesecake before. Love to eat them, never made one. I googled "strawberry cheesecake" and picked a recipe that I thought I could do.

I failed.

BUT (yup, there's a but) I figured out what I did wrong, searched for another recipe, and tried it out the night before his birthday.

Oh yeah. Please do not lick the computer screen.

New York Style Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce

1 cup granulated sugar
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 8-ounce carton of sour cream
1 ten inch graham cracker crust

*All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Cream the softened cream cheese with the sugar and vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add the sour cream. Pour into graham cracker crust, and bake for half an hour at 350 degrees F. Turn off the oven, leaving the cheesecake inside for another half hour. Cool and refrigerate for at least 4-8 hours.

Strawberry Sauce
4 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen & thawed), sliced
1/3 c white sugar
1tsp cornstarch (optional)

Heat strawberries and sugar over medium heat until the mixture starts to boil. Turn the heat down to a low simmer and continue to cook until the sauce begins to thicken. This can take up to 20 minutes. Mash the berries a bit as they cook. Use cornstarch to speed the thickening process if you like, but make sure to dissolve the cornstarch in a little water before placing into the sauce and don't go overboard with it. Be patient with the thickening time or you will end up with a gloppy mess from too much cornstarch. I didn't need the cornstarch.

Puree the topping in a blender until it reaches your desired consistency. If you would like a chunkier topping, take 1 cup of the strawberries out before you begin to puree. I pureed all of it, I like the smoother sauce.

Oh, and here's a one of my favorite recipe searching hints: put "easy" in front of the recipe you're searching for. It totally works.