Deconstructed Strawberry Cheesecake
This easy dessert showcases local, sweet Lepp’s strawberries, and is basically an assembly of ingredients. The sweet fresh berries, syrupy roasted berries, tangy whipped cream and crunchy graham crumbles all combine for a perfect flavour and texture combination.
Layer in whatever order you prefer!
Ahead of time you’ll want to roast some strawberries to serve alongside the fresh ones. Here is our recipe that shows you how to roast your strawberries!
Deconstructed Strawberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
4 cups of Lepp’s fresh strawberries, washed, dried and halved, quartered or sliced.
Mix with 2 tbsp. sugar, stir and set aside.
1 pan roasted strawberries
The white stuff:
½ 250 gm package cream cheese, room temperature
2 Tbsp. icing sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp. Gran Marnier, or your favourite fruit-flavoured liqueur OR 1 tsp. Vanilla
½ cup whipping cream
Graham Cracker Crumble
1 ¼ cup or 6 oz. (1 sleeve from a 14-oz. box) graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp. sugar
8 Tbsp. (½ cup) butter, melted
½ tsp.cinnamon
Instructions
In a bowl, with a handheld mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth and no lumps remain. Add icing sugar and liqueur or vanilla and beat until mixture is smooth.
Add whipping cream and continue beating until mixture is thickened
Preheat an oven to 325°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment sheet.
Add the graham crackers to a food processor, pulse to break them up a bit and then process into fine crumbs. Add the 2 Tbsp. sugar, melted butter and cinnamon and pulse until the mixture comes together in small nuggets. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and bake until light golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
