Wow Your Mom with Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake

I have come to discover that the path to my heart does not go through any stores. While I think gifts are fine, it is often kind words that I remember more, or memories made, or nice gestures. As such, I am not a good gift giver. I try, I really do, but I relate this to basketball: no matter how hard I try, no matter how long I practice, I will NEVER be as good at basketball as Michael Jordan. The same is true of gift giving – you’ve either got it or you don’t. I am firmly on the “don’t got it” side.

I have a long history of picking terrible gifts. As a kid I bought three roses for my mom one Mother’s Day (I am the oldest of her three children), but I was so excited about this sure-to-be-amazing gift that I bought them a week early and stashed them in a neighbor’s fridge. You know how that story ends …

I once gave my “uptown girl” sister-in-law (yes – think Christie Brinkley) a belt bag for her birthday (It was pink, OK?! She loves pink!) only to realize years later that if she were to create a list of worst gifts ever “belt bag” would be near the top (or the bottom … whichever is worse!). Not only would she never use a belt bag, she doesn’t even like to SAY “belt bag.” I think she carried it (with tongs) to the garbage the moment I left, believing that freeing the world of even one pink belt bag was a humanitarian gesture.

*Sigh.* I’ve grown to dread any gift giving occasion because seeing that look on their face – that look of “you’ve GOT to be kidding me” – does not pump up my ego. Or theirs, for that matter. For so long my gift giving was a lose/lose proposition.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

• Sweet Strawberry Cheese Ball Mix
• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 8 oz. non-dairy whipped topping, thawed
• 1 cup mini-chocolate chips
• 1 prepared chocolate graham cracker pie crust
• Chocolate syrup

Directions

Testing Notes:

• I made this exactly as written, except for some embellishments on the top.
• I zapped the cream cheese in the microwave on “defrost” for a few seconds to make sure it was good and soft. It’s so much easier to stir it up that way.
• After I had chilled the cheesecake as directed for 2 hours, I topped it with squirt whipped cream then drizzled it with chocolate sauce and finally topped the whole thing off with some sliced strawberries.
• I gently patted the sliced strawberries with a paper towel because any moisture on them will drip onto your cheesecake … not pretty!
• My husband, daughter and I each tested a small slice (we have to … it’s our job), and I sent what was left to school the next day with my daughter. Oh my, did she score points that day! Far more points, I’m quite sure, than if she had handed out belt bags and wilted roses.