I warned you. I'm on a kick. I'm on a Vanilla Bean kick. A Vanilla Bean and a dessert kick. My post-prego sugar cravings are insane - much more so than when I was pregnant. I'm trying to balance them with healthy dinners, but I can't kick the insane need that I have for dessert at the end of every day.
Last night I asked Mike 4-5 times what kind of sweet treat he'd like after dinner. He'd say, "Oh, I don't need anything" or "I don't care - whatever you want, I'm not really craving anything." Ugh. What I wanted him to say was, "Will you please fix me a chocolate cake! I'm starving for a chocolate cake!" Then I would have to make him a cake and I'd have to have a piece before bed. And for breakfast. And as a mid-day snack.
Anyway... so, here is the 30th dessert post of the month. Not really 30th, but pretty darn close. My blog seems to have been taken over by them. I made this Vanilla Bean Cheesecake on Thursday - oh, AND I did go ahead and make Mike (ok, myself...) that chocolate cake last night, too. Did I say my blog has been taken over by dessert? I meant my life.
I decided to put a Valentine's Day spin on this cheesecake by putting strawberries on top in the shape of a heart. You can do this with raspberries, too, or not at all.
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
serves 6Crust :
8 graham crackers
4 tablespoons of butter
2 blocks of 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Prepare the crust by breaking the graham crackers into crumbs by hand or in a food processor. Melt butter and stir into graham crumbles with a fork. Pack the mixture into a tart pan packing it all the way up the sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.
For the filling, in a mixer, whip together cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Pour filling into the crust.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until slightly brown around the edges and no longer giggly. Allow to sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, then wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours - overnight.
this sounds delish. i too have been craving desserts and i have no post pregnancy hormones to blame! your blog isn't helping either. haha! i recently posted my favorite chocolate cake recipe if you care to add another to your reportoire. here is the link.
ReplyDeletehttp://nineandsixteen.blogspot.com/2012/01/best-chocolate-cake.html
i was a boxed chocolate cake lover till i came across this recipe and my life was forever changed. for the better. i think.
tessa
I like cheesecake but I am partial to chocolate cake. ;) Hope you'll share that recipe too. The only one I have used is the one on the back of the Hershey cocoa.
ReplyDeleteyou arranged the strawberries beautifully!
ReplyDeleteI love the fresh strawberries on top forming an imperfect heart. Makes the cake more delightful! Excited to take a bite into this...
ReplyDeleteMade this last night and loved it. So easy and delicious. I'm a new reader and big fan of your blog!
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