Individual Cheesecakes with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries

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These strawberries are deserved of a post all on their own. The cheesecake is delicious, don’t get me wrong (I ate two all by myself before I even made the sauce), but these strawberries?
OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD.
I should have waited for the strawberries.

Balsamic Strawberries on Cheesecake, www.mountainmamacooks.com

Remember when I told you I blew off my friend, Annalise four times when we were trying to get together to make caramel? Yeah, I don’t like to be reminded either. BUT, once we finally did get together, the caramel that we did make was kick ass. So I suppose all is good.

Balsamic Roasted Strawberries, www.mountainmamacooks.com

I bring it up again not because I like to remind you or myself about my flakiness but I made these cheesecakes the night before the first time we were to meet as I thought they’d make a good base for the caramel sauce. Which they would have. Except we didn’t end up getting together until almost two weeks later and the cheesecakes didn’t make it to caramel day. In fact, two of them didn’t make it two days. I ate two of them slowly but surely all by myself over 36 hours. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But then I was kind of sick as you can imagine and still had two perfectly tasty cheesecakes left. Not wanting to waste them, I had to come up with something quick. And blog worthy because that’s the way my warped brain thinks these days.

Oven Balsamic Roasted Strawberries, www.mountainmamacooks.com

Enter the grocery store strawberries on the verge of turning bad. They were practically begging to be turned into something luscious and savory (or get tossed into the trash) so I opted for luscious and savory. Roasted them in the oven does something magical. They caramelize, get perfectly soft without being mushy and the balsamic adds a savory depth that is pretty much out of this world. I could have eaten the entire bowl of strawberries in one sitting. But I still had a stomach ache from all the cheesecake I consumed so I restrained myself. I won’t be making cheesecake for awhile. Eating too much will do that to a girl. But these strawberries? I’ve been racking my brain since I made them thinking of all the things they’d be delicious on. Waffles, ice cream, yogurt, brownies, my face. You get the idea.

Individual Cheesecake with Strawberries, Mountain Mama Cooks

Perhaps you’ll make this dessert and surprise your sweetie on Thursday for what is I’m sure the lamest holiday that ever was. Or just make the dessert because it’s good. And you love yo’ man. That is reason enough.

Have a great week y’all!

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Individual Cheesecakes

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2– 8oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to #350 degrees.
  2. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, butter and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Press firmly into the bottom of 4 individual mini springform pans. Bake for 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly mixed. Stir in sour cream until well blended.
  4. Put springform pans on a large cookie sheet. Divide the cheesecake batter evenly between the four springform pans.
  5. Fill a shallow dish (such as a 9×9 or 9×13) with water and place on lowest baking rack. Put cookie sheet with cheesecakes on the middle shelf just above pan dish with water. Bake 30 minutes. Turn oven off and open oven door just slightly. Let cheesecakes cool in oven for 2 hours.
  6. Remove cheesecakes from oven and let completely cool on baking rack before refrigerating at least 2 hours.
  7. Can be made up to 3 days ahead.
  8. Top with any topping you like or serve as is.
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Balsamic Roasted Strawberries

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Ingredients

  • 8 oz strawberries
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
  2. Toss strawberries, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar in a non reactive baking dish and roast for 45 minutes until bubbly and thick. Stir once or twice.
  3. Cool completely and store in a glass jar in the fridge. Keeps for a week.
  4. If using for cheesecakes, double the recipe and divide evenly among the four cheesecakes.