Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry Cheesecake

After my mom picked up a pint of this season's strawberries and I devoured the whole thing I simply couldn't resist buying another pint to make something even MORE delicious than fresh strawberries! And that's a pretty tough job considering that I believe strawberries to be one of the most perfect foods in their completely natural form. Now when you combine something like gorgeous fresh strawberries with cream cheese and fluffy egg whites you get this delicious light creamy dessert! Perfect for Father's Day, birthday, any day, it's just perfect :)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer cookie crumbs

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese

1 1/4 cup sugar, divided

5 large strawberries, pureed

1/2 cup egg whites

1 cup sour cream

Strawberries for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Place about two cups of the vanilla wafer cookies into a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Once the wafers are processed into a crumb, mix with the melted butter and press into the bottom of an eight inch spring-form pan. Next, use a handheld electric mixer or a lot of elbow grease to combine the cream cheese, egg whites, sugar and strawberry puree.  Pour the mixture into the spring-form pan and place the entire pan onto a baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for thirty five to forty minutes. Once the cheesecake is set remove it from the oven. In the meantime, mix the sour cream and quarter cup of sugar in a small bowl and spread on the top of the cheesecake once it has cooled. Garnish with fresh cut strawberries and enjoy!