Chocolate Cheesecake Strawberries

You know that feeling you get when you think of something amazing and can't wait to share it with everyone? It happens to me all the time.....

Ok, so it doesn't. But, when it does, it's amazing. Sunflower Market had strawberries on sale last week and I bought some. It's my kids favorite fruit, which is saying a lot because they love fruit almost as much as they love me. Or maybe we're tied?

A friend at work had made chocolate covered strawberries to share, and I think there's a conspiracy at work to make every social worker fat and lazy, but I ate up my share of strawberries anyway. Best  conspiracy ever. Someone else mentioned they loved strawberry cheesecake and for some reason strawberries + chocolate + cheesecake fit perfectly in my head as the following...

Chocolate Cheesecake Strawberries
by Girls in Aprons

1 block (8 oz) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb strawberries, washed and dried
1 12-oz bag semisweet chocolate chips
4 sheets (8 squares) graham crackers, finely crushed

In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Place strawberries stem side down on a small baking sheet. Using a paring knife, slice an "X" through the bottom of each strawberry, stopping about halfway down the strawberry. This helps open up the strawberry to fill it.

Pour the cream cheese mixture into a piping bag or large Ziploc bag and cut a small hole in one corner. Sticking the cut corner into each strawberry, fill the strawberry with the mixture, pulling the bag out slowly. Place strawberries in the freezer for half hour.

After half hour, melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stopping every 30 seconds to stir the chips until melted. Place the crushed graham crackers in a shallow plate. Remove the strawberries from the freezer and, one at a time, dip in the melted chocolate and then into the graham cracker crumbs. Set each finished strawberry on a plate. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream, if desired.