Uh-Mazing Cheesecake w/ Strawberry Coulis

I've been wanting to make cheesecake from scratch for a long time now, but I've never had a springform pan. I have a few small heart shaped ones, but never a full size before. But my husband recently bought me the 9-in springform pan from the Martha Stewart collection :) So, I decided it was time to have homemade cheesecake (with graham cracker crust, of course!)

There are a lot of cheesecake recipes out there and it was hard to choose one to try. I ended up choosing one I found online (honestly because it sounded simple). It really was simple to make, so I wasn't sure if it was going to be good or not. I made a graham cracker crust because the best cheesecake needs a graham cracker crust! Mixing the crushed grahams with the melted butter and sugar smelled SO good. And then I blended everything else to make the filling. I baked it for awhile, but got a little nervous when it didn't seem as if it was finished after almost an hour. The recipe said the edge would be brown and the middle soft, but the edges looked too brown and the middle didn't look done at all! I was nervous, so I covered it with foil and put it back to bake for a few minutes. It had also risen so high that it cracked around the edge :( I thought it was going to be a disaster. I took it out after the extra 5 minutes and let it cool. I went to check on it after it had cooled for a bit and it settled down and looked really good! The edges were a little dark, but not burnt! I was happy with the way it ended up looking.

I had it chill in the refrigerator overnight so we could have it for dessert tonight. Before serving it I made a strawberry coulis sauce to have with it to add a little color and flavor. I originally wanted to make raspberry coulis, but could not find raspberries anywhere! I decided to use strawberries instead, and it turned out really good! I just pureed strawberries and a little sugar in the food processor and it made this tasty sauce to put on the cheesecake!

It was fluffy and soft and the crust was really good. And the sauce made it! Next time I will make the graham cracker crust thicker, but I was still REALLY impressed with how it all turned out! It tasted very refreshing! :)