Baked Strawberry Cheesecake: Stretching The Moment Part II

Our summer took an unexpected twist recently. What should have been an annual two week trip to the UK turned into a month long extended stay, due to an outage of the US Passport and Visa system, stranding tens of thousands of people worldwide including my family.

Initial feelings of disappointment and frustration slowly turned into opportunities. When Meg wrote about “changing perspectives in August” in her post Stretching the Moment last week, little did I know that I would be putting it into practice so soon. Once we started to let go of the aspects of our situation that we couldn’t alter; the speed with which we could return to the US Embassy for yet another Visa interview, having to live in other peoples’ homes indefinitely and maintaining our work schedules, I could consider how to make the most of what lay ahead.

We’ve visited royal palaces and gardens, fished for crayfish in the river and foraged for wild plums and blackberries, paddled in pools and explored the wild moors and natural landscapes of our native home. At the generosity of family and friends we’ve enjoyed BBQ’s, picnics and dinner parties.

It was for one such family party that I made this Strawberry Cheesecake in my mum’s Crock Pot for dessert. Taken directly from The Slow Cooker Cookbook “A celebration of the slow cooker,” it’s a creamy, cheesy and fruity dessert I consider a rare treat. Baking it in your slow cooker gives a dense and moist texture. Dress it with fresh fruit to make a simple summer dessert.

Ingredients

3oz unsalted butter, melted
5oz Graham crackers or digestive biscuits, crushed
10oz strawberries
1 tub / 10.5oz Philadelphia cream cheese
6.5oz Mascarpone cheese
6oz caster sugar
2tbsp cornflour
2 large eggs
1 lemon, zest and juice

In a small bowl mix the melted butter and the crushed crackers. Push the mixture into a parchment lined springform baking tin.

Mash half the strawberries in a bowl and mix in the cream cheese, mascarpone, caster sugar, cornflour, eggs, lemon juice and zest until smooth.

Pour the strawberry mixture over the cracker base in the tin and place in your slow cooker.

Cover and cook on high for 2 hours. Turn off the slow cooker and leave the cheesecake for a further 2 hours to set, before refrigerating. Turn out the cheesecake onto a plate and slice remainder of the strawberries and lay on top.

Zen Moment