Cheesecake with Strawberry Glaze

Hello lovely ladies! Today I wanted to share with you a simple recipe so you can surprise your mom with a delicious homemade cheesecake for Mother's Day! It's a pretty simple recipe that anyone can make.

Since it was my first time making a cheesecake I wanted a simple, straightforward recipe that was pretty much foolproof. After searching for quite a while, I found Kraft's Best Cheesecake Recipe and adapted my recipe from that.

Cheesecake Recipe 

Ingredients:
1 package Maria cookies (found in the Hispanic food aisle) OR 1 3/4 cups graham crackers
1 stick of butter
1-1/4 cups sugar, divided
3- 8oz. packages cream cheese at room temp.
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Put the cookies in the blender of food processor to make cookie crumbs. Mix the crumbs and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter and add to the crumb- sugar mixture and mix everything together. Press firmly onto the bottom and about 1 inch up the side of a springform pan.

3. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Pour mix into crust.

4. Bake for 1 hour and 10 min. Turn oven off and let cheesecake set in oven for 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
***I recommend making this cake the day before and refrigerate overnight. 

The only problem was that it browned on the top and it wasn't very good-looking but I wasn't even on planning on leaving it like that anyway. Here's what it looked like.
 

Strawberry Glaze Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup of strawberries, mashed (about 1/2 lb.)
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:
1. Mash the strawberries to make 1 cup of pulp.

2. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water.

3. Place the pulp in a saucepan and add the sugar and the cornstarch- water mixture.

4. Cook over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens.

5. Remove saucepan from heat; add the butter and lemon juice while it's still hot. Stir.

6. Cool to room temperature.

7. Pour over cake and garnish with extra strawberry slices.

This is what the glaze looks like.

And voila, the cake!! It was super delicious. Enjoy!