Cheesecake can be adapted for any season by choosing your favorite fruit topping, different cookies for the crust, and just the right adult beverage to enjoy alongside.
And what's better than an individual cheesecake? A triple stack :) A shareable dessert and a fun photo!
Honey bourbon sloshed strawberries over cheesecake was inspired by one of my liqueur tastings for Wild Turkey. I was also happily enundated with the most intoxicating juicy ripe summer berries.
One of the recipe pairing ideas I suggested to customers in the ABC store was to drink honey bourbon with Cinnamon Basil And Cognac Strawberry Shortcake On A Vanilla Waffle. So easing from vanilla accented waffles with Cognac strawberries to vanilla flavored cheesecake whose strawberries are dripping with honey bourbon was a tantalizing transition!
Strawberries are fantastic with the warm spicy ginger cookie crust. And vanilla cheesecake is a beautiful blank canvas to carry in any delicious direction you desire!
Honey is all the rage now in spirits and it does bring on the sweet, which may be overkill for those that enjoy the burn from plain bourbon.
But if that's too much for you, the honey softens and smooths it out. It is also a terrific pairing with desserts.
So creamy, spicy from the lemony ginger, and oh boy, those drunken strawberries :) A citrusy, sugary, edible fruit decoration...beautiful, colorful and totally craving worthy!
Ingredients For crust
17 gingersnap cookies (I used Trader Joes)
Ingredients For Filling
1 – 8 oz. package of full fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 C granulated white sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 large egg, room temperature
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ C full fat sour cream, room temperature
¼ C vanilla yogurt
Ingredients For Strawberries
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup Wild Turkey honey bourbon
Directions For Crust
Line muffin pans with foil liners and place a cookie in the bottom of each one.
Directions For Filling
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
With a hand mixer beat cream cheese on low speed until creamy and smooth. It’s important to use low so you do not add too much air into the mixing process, which could cause cracking on the top of the cake. Add sugar and salt. Beat to combine. Keep sides of bowl scraped down. Add egg, beating until incorporated. Add remaining ingredients and beat just until blended. Overmixing can also cause cracking.
Distribute batter evenly among all muffin cups. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until set. The top should look a little wet and the center a little wobbly. Resist the urge to leave them beyond this time. Over baking can create cracking too.
If you’ve never baked cheesecake before it can be difficult to tell when they’re done. This is made more complicated because you can’t taste test or poke them as cheesecakes must rest in the refrigerator to develop their optimum texture.
Remove cheesecakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate for at least several hours, ideally overnight.
Directions For Strawberry Topping
Place berries in a bowl and pour bourbon over them at least 2 hours before serving cheesecake.
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