Recipe: 7-Up Lemon Cheesecake with Strawberry Glaze

7-Up Lemon Cheesecake with Strawberry Glaze

Crumb Crust:
2 c Graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c Powdered sugar
1/2 c Butter; melted
1 ts Cinnamon

7-Up Filling
1 pk Unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 c 7-up; divided
1 sm Lemon pudding & pie filling, not instant
6 tb Sugar
2 Eggs; beaten
3/4 c Water
2 pkg (8 oz each) Cream cheese; softened

Strawberry Glaze:
1/2 c Strawberry jelly; melted
Fresh strawberries or unsweetened frozen, thawed whole strawberries

Crust: Combine well the graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Press onto bottom and partway up sides of buttered 9" springform pan; chill.

Filling:Soften unflavored gelatin in 1/4 cup 7-up for 4 minutes. In a saucepan combine pie filling, sugar, beaten eggs and water. Blend well. Add 1-1/4 cup 7-up and bring just to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly; remove from heat. Stir in softened gelatin; cool 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of this warm mixture to softened cream cheese; mash together. Mix together with remaining 7-up mixture and stir until well blended. Turn into chilled crust and chill for at least 8 hours. Remove from pan and add topping.

Topping: Brush top of chilled cheesecake with melted jelly. Arrange strawberried upright on cake and spoon any remaining melted jelly over them.