Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake for the national cheesecake day (July 30th). Probably even most of the Americans do not care about it, so what is it to me? I care because we do not miss any oppurtunity to celebrate something related to food. We’ve have been living in America for the last seven years. I think it is fair to say that we are very anal about not blending in and assimilation. We think multi-culturalism is something to be treasured and applauded and each person is beautiful with his/her heritage and culture. But when it comes to food and celebrations with food count us in, we’re from world. So here in America, we love-love-love thanksgiving dinners, we grill on labor day, we do not carve pumpkins for Halloween but we make our favorite desert with pumpkin during that time, we go Mexican on Cinco de Mayo! You name it we do it. Good food and feasts are borderless, nationless. Only visa required is a good recipe!

So happy cheesecake day!

Strawberry Cheesecake
(adapted from allrecipes)

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen sweetened strawberries, thawed (you can use fresh strawberry but then add 1/2 cup sugar to strawberry sauce)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 eggs

1) Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan. Bake the crust at 300F for 10 minutes. Then cool.

2) In a blender or food processor, combine strawberries and cornstarch; cover and process until smooth. Pour into a saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup strawberry sauce; cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce for serving. (Again, you can use fresh strawberry but then add 1/2 cup sugar to the sauce.)

3) In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in milk. Add lemon juice; mix well. Add eggs, beat on low just until combined. It is important to not overbeat cheesecakes because you want as little air as possible so that cheesecake won’t crack when baking.

4) Pour the cream cheese mixture over the crust. Drop strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on top. With a knife, cut through top layer only to swirl strawberry sauce.

5) Cover bottom of pan with foil so that water doesn’t go in once in water bath. Put the springform pan in a water bath and place it in oven. Bake at 300 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Do not worry if it still looks wobbly. Remember if it feels done after baking, it will be overdone later when it sets. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.
Refrigerate overnight. Remove side of pan.

Thin chilled strawberry sauce with water if desired; serve with cheesecake.

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