Valentine's Day Cheese Cake | Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Strawberries

Let the Vanilla Bean obsession continue...

I warned you.  I'm on a kick.  I'm on a Vanilla Bean kick.  A Vanilla Bean and a dessert kick.  My post-prego sugar cravings are insane - much more so than when I was pregnant.  I'm trying to balance them with healthy dinners, but I can't kick the insane need that I have for dessert at the end of every day.

Last night I asked Mike 4-5 times what kind of sweet treat he'd like after dinner.  He'd say, "Oh, I don't need anything" or "I don't care - whatever you want, I'm not really craving anything."  Ugh.  What I wanted him to say was, "Will you please fix me a chocolate cake!  I'm starving for a chocolate cake!"  Then I would have to make him a cake and I'd have to have a piece before bed.  And for breakfast.  And as a mid-day snack.

Anyway... so, here is the 30th dessert post of the month.  Not really 30th, but pretty darn close.  My blog seems to have been taken over by them.  I made this Vanilla Bean Cheesecake on Thursday - oh, AND I did go ahead and make Mike (ok, myself...) that chocolate cake last night, too.  Did I say my blog has been taken over by dessert?  I meant my life.



I decided to put a Valentine's Day spin on this cheesecake by putting strawberries on top in the shape of a heart.  You can do this with raspberries, too, or not at all.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
serves 6

Crust :
8 graham crackers
4 tablespoons of butter

2 blocks of 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Prepare the crust by breaking the graham crackers into crumbs by hand or in a food processor.  Melt butter and stir into graham crumbles with a fork.  Pack the mixture into a tart pan packing it all the way up the sides.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

For the filling, in a mixer, whip together cream cheese and sugar.  Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla.  Pour filling into the crust.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until slightly brown around the edges and no longer giggly.  Allow to sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, then wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours - overnight.