Sous Vide Strawberry Cheesecakes

Portland native Chelsea Cole shares how she started her blog, A Duck’s Oven, and how to make delicious cheesecakes at Market Kitchen!

I was born and raised in Portland, OR and haven’t been able to get away.

I went to the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!) and started teaching herself how to cook when I moved into my first apartment. Cooking quickly became my stress relief from school and my part-time job. Most of the college students I knew relied on takeout, frozen meals, and boxed mac and cheese. Don’t get me wrong – I totally love those things, but they have their place, and it is not for dinner every night. So, in 2010, A Duck’s Oven was born to say, “Hey, cooking isn’t that hard! Really, look!”

My blog and cooking have seen me through three career changes (early childhood education > restaurant management > digital marketing) and helped to guide me through each of them. I’m finally doing my dream job doing digital marketing, while still loving this blog. In fact, thanks to this blog, I self-published my cookbook: Everyday Sous Vide: It’s All French to Me.

Ingredients

• 2 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• ¼ tsp salt

• 3 large eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ½ cup heavy whipping cream

• 2 cups strawberries, tops removed and hulled

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1/4 cup water

Preparation

Get immersion circulator setup and start preheating water bath to 175 degrees F. This is a hot temperature for sous vide cooking: don’t forget to place a trivet under your container!

Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until smooth - there should be no cream cheese chunks and eggs should be completely incorporated. You may need to pause the blender and use a spatula to scrape down the sides a few times.

Prepare 6 quart-sized, wide mouth mason jars by removing the lids and spraying inside of jars with nonstick spray.

Pour the cream cheese mixture evenly between the jars.

Place the undamaged lids on your jars. Close to "finger tight" (you should be able to easily unscrew with just your fingertips). Drop jars carefully into water. Jars should be completely submerged and you should see small air bubbles escaping the jars. If the jars are floating, your lid is on too tight.

Let cook for 1.5 hours. Remove mason jars to a towel on the counter to cool. Once cool to the touch, place in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

Make the strawberry topping by combining the strawberries, sugar, and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Bring to a simmer, and cook until liquid has thickened and strawberries are just starting to soften, about 5 minutes.