Ditch the store-bought cheesecake and pie crust by trying this creamy homemade recipe! In this video, Nicole makes her best ever strawberry cheesecake using freshly picked strawberries and a homemade graham cracker crust. Plus, she shows you her special technique to cook the classic dessert evenly. To see how to make this sweet strawberry treat step-by-step, watch this full episode of Get Cookin’.
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00:00 [whistling]
00:01 I give to you the perfect cheesecake.
00:03 Don't be intimidated by making homemade cheesecake.
00:05 I've got the perfect recipe that includes
00:07 the buttery graham cracker crust,
00:08 a creamy filling that bakes up with zero cracking,
00:11 and a fresh topping made from juicy strawberries.
00:13 Gotta start with the crust.
00:14 Into the food processor goes 14 graham crackers.
00:17 I really think it's worth it to start
00:19 with the whole graham cracker
00:20 versus the pre-processed graham cracker crumbs,
00:24 because you might get lucky
00:25 and have just some larger crumb pieces.
00:28 That would be on purpose.
00:29 Quarter cup of sugar.
00:31 And then six tablespoons of butter that has been melted.
00:34 I'm gonna process the graham crackers and the sugar,
00:36 and then add in the melted butter.
00:37 I'm just gonna give it a couple pulses.
00:40 That's what you want.
00:41 Just kind of like damp sand.
00:43 Let me tell you a little bit about the cheesecake pan.
00:45 This is a piece of equipment that honestly
00:47 has intimidated me for my whole cooking career.
00:50 Now I know the kind to get.
00:51 It's this kind, where the bottom
00:53 also has a little dip in here.
00:56 That way you can slide the cheesecake right off.
00:58 This one also is heavy duty with like a nice coating.
01:00 And now you still have this little lip out here
01:02 to catch any potential water that may come up later.
01:07 Also, you need to spray the sides of it.
01:09 The crust has so much butter
01:10 that it probably won't stick anyway.
01:13 So it's more about the sides.
01:14 Okay, then in goes our crust.
01:18 You still wanna pack it, but just not super tight.
01:20 Kind of sounds counterintuitive.
01:22 Like I kind of want it to be packed,
01:24 but if you pack it too much before,
01:27 it ends up being too hard.
01:28 Sometimes a little measuring cup can help.
01:31 Okay, I've seen a lot of recipes
01:32 where people don't even bake the crust,
01:34 but I just feel like that doesn't sound right.
01:36 So I bake this at 350 degrees just for about eight minutes
01:40 or until just like it's a little fragrant.
01:42 You also wanna be sure that the rack in your oven
01:45 is at least in the middle or one below.
01:47 It's just starting to brown around the edges
01:53 and it's definitely very fragrant.
01:54 So I'm gonna let this cool slightly
01:56 while I make the filling
01:57 and I'm going to reduce my oven temperature to 325.
02:00 Filling time, very important information.
02:04 Pay attention.
02:05 Starting with my cream cheese.
02:06 I let this sit out overnight.
02:08 You want it soft the natural way.
02:10 You don't wanna try to melt this in the microwave.
02:12 It gets too watery.
02:13 So I'm starting with four blocks of cream cheese
02:14 and I'm gonna give that a little whirl in there
02:17 to get smooth.
02:18 You wanna use the full fat cream cheese,
02:20 not that light stuff.
02:22 We're making cheesecake.
02:23 We're not trying to be healthy.
02:25 You know what helps?
02:27 If you plug it in.
02:27 Oh, also important.
02:33 We wanna whip this till it's smooth
02:34 but you don't wanna over beat it
02:36 because you're not trying to incorporate extra air.
02:39 That's what's gonna make it like have pockets in the end
02:41 instead of being just like smooth and creamy.
02:44 I like to do it till I can get that cream cheese
02:49 out of the center of the beater.
02:50 Another thing you wanna do
02:51 is get some water on the stove to a boil.
02:54 Yes, we're doing the water bath.
02:56 I'll tell you why in just a minute.
02:57 Right, after your cream cheese is smooth
02:59 then you're gonna go in with one and a quarter cup of sugar
03:03 and then I'm gonna mix that until that's smooth.
03:05 I suggest taking a lot of scrape breaks.
03:08 That's how you're gonna avoid those little clumps.
03:11 Sorry about that, did I hit you?
03:12 It's simple but it's messy.
03:15 See how smooth that is?
03:16 That's what you want.
03:17 This point we're adding in the next three ingredients
03:19 which are sour cream, a little bit of lemon juice
03:23 and vanilla.
03:23 You want all these ingredients room temperature.
03:25 I talked about the cream cheese
03:26 but you also want your sour cream and your eggs
03:29 to be room temperature also
03:30 so that that cream cheese doesn't tighten up.
03:33 Okay, I'm going in with three quarter cup of sour cream
03:36 and then two teaspoons each of lemon juice and vanilla.
03:39 Forgot the salt, just a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt.
03:46 Now I'm gonna turn the mixer on low
03:50 and incorporate my eggs one at a time.
03:52 So I'll crack the second one in
03:53 after the first one is fully incorporated.
03:55 I kind of factored just one egg per block of cream cheese.
03:59 One little zhuzh.
04:01 All right, that's it.
04:02 While I took every precaution,
04:03 there are still some little tiny clumps of the cheese
04:05 but I don't wanna over beat it
04:07 and they'll melt into the filling as it cooks.
04:10 If you find out that you have a lot of bubbles
04:12 in your cheesecake mixture,
04:13 you can just let it sit for a little while in the bowl
04:15 and let those settle.
04:16 Now I'm just going to pour the cheesecake batter
04:19 into our pan.
04:20 You just wanna smooth it out.
04:22 Time to bake.
04:24 Grab yourself a roasting pan or just any pan
04:28 that is larger than your cheesecake pan.
04:31 We are doing a water bath.
04:32 You do not have to do a water bath if you don't want to.
04:36 The purpose of the water bath is to ensure even cooking.
04:39 This is basically a custard inside
04:42 so you don't want anything to happen too fast on the outside
04:45 that's not cooking on the inside.
04:46 You want it to kind of cook more evenly.
04:48 It's just going to create a prettier cheesecake.
04:52 It's still gonna taste delicious if you don't do this.
04:54 And if there are cracks on the top,
04:56 it also doesn't matter because remember,
04:58 we're about to make the most delicious
04:59 strawberry topping ever.
05:01 You have to first wrap the pan with foil
05:03 and then place it into our pan
05:05 because we're trying to block out,
05:06 prevent any water from getting into
05:08 that beautiful work of art.
05:10 I learned this little trick.
05:10 This is extra insurance.
05:12 You don't have to do this
05:12 but I just thought it was creative.
05:14 We can wrap the bottom also in an oven bag
05:16 just for another layer of protection from the water.
05:19 Now this goes into our pan.
05:22 And now this goes into the oven.
05:25 Now we're going to pour the water in very carefully.
05:28 You want it to come up at least almost halfway.
05:31 In we go.
05:32 It's gonna cook at 325 for about 50 minutes.
05:36 Fresh strawberries.
05:41 This is what's taking this cheesecake to another level.
05:44 It is strawberry season
05:46 and this past weekend I went to the strawberry festival
05:48 and I went to get the very best of the best.
05:50 Mm, so sweet.
05:52 These are just the regular strawberries
05:54 that you get at the big grocery store.
05:56 Please look at the difference.
05:58 One of these things is not like the other.
06:00 Let me show you my little hack
06:01 for washing strawberries though.
06:03 The salad spinner.
06:04 The main reason a lot of people
06:05 don't wanna wash their strawberries sometimes
06:07 is 'cause they think it will absorb too much water
06:09 and make the texture off.
06:10 So the key after you've washed your berries
06:12 is to make sure they're really dry.
06:13 It's okay if these aren't perfectly dry
06:15 because they're going into a sauce.
06:16 So I'm gonna start just by cutting the tops off
06:19 and cutting these in half.
06:21 I'm gonna start with about four cups of strawberries
06:23 to make the sauce, but at the end of the day
06:25 I'm gonna stir in some big juicy chunks of strawberry
06:28 because I wanna see that on top of the cheesecake.
06:32 I'm adding everything to the pot
06:33 before I put it on the heat
06:35 because I want the cornstarch to dissolve.
06:37 You always wanna start cornstarch in cold water
06:39 when you're using it.
06:40 That way it just fully dissolves in there.
06:42 So to the strawberries I'm going to go in
06:44 with a half a cup of sugar,
06:47 and then two teaspoons of cornstarch,
06:49 a tablespoon of lemon juice,
06:51 and then about a half a cup of water,
06:53 and two more teaspoons of vanilla.
06:56 Okay, then I'm just going to bring this to the stove now.
06:58 Okay, now I'm just gonna bring this to a boil.
07:01 This smells so good.
07:03 It's thickened and these berries are nice and soft,
07:04 so I'm gonna take a potato masher
07:06 and mash this 'til it's pretty smooth.
07:08 I'm going to keep it simmering
07:09 until it's as thick as you want it.
07:11 So just about another five to 10 minutes.
07:13 But our cheesecake is about ready.
07:15 Now this is when you wanna pull your cheesecake
07:17 is when it's still just a little bit jiggly in the middle.
07:20 No cracks so far.
07:22 This is the crucial part,
07:23 is that we don't want this to cool down so fast.
07:26 So I'm gonna leave it sitting here in the water bath
07:28 for about 10 minutes or so.
07:31 My sauce is where I want it.
07:33 It's really rich, deep red.
07:35 So I'm gonna remove it from the heat,
07:36 let it cool about 10 minutes or so,
07:38 and then I'm gonna stir in fresh strawberry chunks.
07:41 As soon as the cheesecake starts to pull away on its own,
07:44 that's when I like to go ahead
07:45 and run a knife around the edge to finish that
07:48 because you don't want the pan to pull the cheesecake away
07:50 to where it creates a big crack in it.
07:53 I want it to cool completely on the counter
07:55 before I put it in the fridge.
07:57 Again, you don't wanna go from those drastic temperatures
07:59 or that's what causes the cracking.
08:01 I am so proud of that.
08:04 Look at the glossy shine on these strawberries.
08:06 These are gonna be so delicious.
08:08 Like a burst.
08:11 Mm, the moment of truth.
08:13 Look at that.
08:16 Yeah!
08:18 I've just never done it like this before.
08:20 Cheesecake factory, who?
08:22 Now that it's cooled completely,
08:23 now you wanna let it chill.
08:25 Best overnight.
08:26 I'm not gonna make you wait that long
08:28 because I did make one overnight.
08:30 Here's the one I made last night,
08:32 perfect and ready to be sliced.
08:34 The inside is so creamy.
08:37 It's just like perfect.
08:38 I gotta taste it on its own.
08:41 Mm!
08:42 This is why it's my favorite dessert of all time.
08:46 But it's about the strawberries too.
08:47 Let me serve it up the proper way.
08:49 I like extra so I can have a lot of perfect bites on there.
08:52 I just love it so much.
08:54 Pretend I never took that other bite.
08:56 This is the real perfect bite.
08:58 Yes, yes, yes.
08:59 I don't even know what to say
09:02 except that if I only have one day left to live,
09:06 let this be my dessert.
09:08 Totally worth it to do the water bath
09:10 and if you have the opportunity
09:12 to get some fresh local strawberries,
09:15 even if it's a couple dollars more, totally worth it.
09:17 This is what you need to be bringing
09:19 to every barbecue, cookout, get together, everything.
09:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]