Fruity Adventure into Cheesecake.

Adding or putting fruit into a recipe, including desserts, isn't something new.  It adds sweetness, nutritional value and, in most cases, just makes it so much prettier and inviting to eat.  Once again I've been making cheesecakes, so want to share how to make those lovely swirl and/or fruit topped cheesecakes you "Oooooo" and "Awwww" in the bakery windows.

While you could cook up fresh fruit, and by adding sugar make the needed puree; the easiest thing to do is go to the supermarket and buy a can of pie filling.  Yes, that's all you need to make a "WOW" cheesecake and impress your family, friends and guests when dessert time comes around.

Lets get to some artistic work in the kitchen.  The photos I'm posting will be of cherry and blueberry cheesecakes; it's that easy!  Also, with this type of cheesecake, you don't have to use the Bain Marie method to bake it.  Any cracks that develop during baking will be covered up by the fruit topping.  However, you should use the Bain Marie method if you are just going to use the puree to make the swirl; then no cracking in the cake.

 

Fruit Swirl and Topped Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the Crust

1 ½ cups crushed graham crackers
5 Tbsp melted butter

For the Cake

1 (21 oz) can fruit pie filling (cherry, strawberry, blueberry or mixed berry)
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
1 (8 oz) package mascarpone cheese (use regular cream cheese if not available)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Preparation:

Spray a 9 inch springform pan with baking spray; place a piece of parchment paper, cut to fit the bottom, inside the pan; spray also with baking spray. Mix the crushed graham crackers with the melted butter; press onto bottom of pan. Place in refrigerator for a half hour to set.

Preheat oven to 325F. Place a strainer over a small mixing bowl; pour contents of pie filling into strainer; use a spatula to move filling around to allow puree to strain into the bowl. The puree is thick, so lift strainer up slightly and scrape off bottom to allow continuous straining. One cup is needed for the cake swirl. Place remaining puree and fruit into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to use as topping.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, mascarpone, sugar and vanilla extract on high until well blended. Add the eggs and beat on low speed until well blended. Pour the batter over the crust and smooth out with a spatula. Gently pour the one cup of fruit puree onto center of batter; use a small spatula to swirl the puree throughout the batter.

Place inside oven on center rack; bake for 60 minutes; sides of cake will rise up more than center. Turn off heat, prop open oven door and wait for 30 minutes before removing from oven. Set pan on counter, run a knife around the rim of the cake to loosen sides; refrigerate overnight.

Before serving cake, evenly spread out the reserved puree and fruit over indented section of the cake.

Makes 12 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Definitely Death by Chocolate.

I have admitted that I'm not a big fan of baking; I don't enjoy doing the precise measurements required for a perfectly baked item.  However, that doesn't mean I shy away from it altogether, and do find ways of experimenting.  One cake I love to play with is cheesecake; using different types of cookies for a crust, pureed fruits, candy pieces, various flavor combinations. It's almost as fun as making cookies, and there are hundreds of variations of those.

Now I have also admitted that I adore chocolate, so I hope you're seeing the path I'm about to travel on.  If not, well it's Chocolate Cheesecake; a completely decadent, all chocolate cheesecake: chocolate crust, chocolate cheesecake layer, topped with a chocolate ganache.  My version is not overly sweet, but the chocolate is so rich and flavorful, the extra sugar is not missed.  I have had adults and children try this cake recently at a party, and everyone loved it.  A normal slice of cheesecake has about a two inch width; but a one inch width slice will be about as much as you can eat of this cake.  Afterwards you will definitely want a nap as you experience blissful joy.  Eat anymore of it and death by chocolate might just occur as you lapse into a coma of complete nirvana.

Enough of the tease, lets get to the recipe.

 

Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

2 cups crushed chocolate graham crackers
5 Tbsp melted butter

For the Cake:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
1 (8 oz) package mascarpone cheese (use regular cream cheese if not available)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 (4 oz) package Ghirardelli Bittersweet Baking Chocolate, melted and cooled

For the Ganache:

½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 (4 oz) package Ghirardelli Bittersweet Baking Chocolate, broken into pieces

Preparation:

Spray a 9 inch springform pan with baking spray; place a piece of parchment paper, cut to fit the bottom, inside the pan; spray also with baking spray.

Mix the crushed graham crackers with the melted butter; press onto bottom and halfway up sides of pan. Place in refrigerator for a half hour to set.  Preheat oven to 325F.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, mascarpone, sugar and vanilla extract on high until well blended. Add the eggs and melted chocolate; on low speed mix until well blended.

Take pan out of refrigerator, set on top of a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil and wrap foil up around the sides. Pour the cream cheese/chocolate mixture over the crust and smooth out with a spatula.

Place the pan inside a 3 quart baking dish, so that it sits flatly; pour cool water into the baking dish ¼ up the side of the pan. Be careful no water gets inside the aluminum foil. Place inside oven on center rack; bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the center is almost set. Turn off heat, prop open oven door and wait for 30 minutes before removing baking dish. Set pan on counter, run a knife around the rim of the cake to loosen sides; refrigerate for 4 hours.

To make the ganache, in a small saucepan, medium-high heat, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Add in the chocolate and quickly begin whisking until chocolate is melted, incorporated well and has a smooth, shiny texture.

Let cool slightly; remove cake from refrigerator and pour ganache over the top, smooth out with a spatula. Return cake to refrigerator for 4 more hours or overnight; depending on when it is planned to be served.

Carefully open springform pan; use a long, wide spatula to get between pan bottom and parchment paper. Carefully lift cake onto serving dish; cut into 16 slices.

*Makes 16 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Candy in my Cheesecake.

Usually I put off making cheesecakes until the holiday season, but I had promised to make one as a thank you gift; and I keep my promises, especially when it comes to food. I knew exactly which one I was going to make, my Toffee Shortbread Cheesecake; a bottom layer of crushed shortbread cookies; a creamy layer of cream cheese mixed with mascarpone.

The candy bits are usually found in the baking aisle, crushed Skor candy pieces, or Heath Bar bits. Now both contain chocolate as they're the actual candy bars crushed (you can do the same if you can't find the packages in the baking aisle). I noticed that Heath Bar has a package called "Bits o' Brickel" which is only the toffee part of the candy bar broken up; no chocolate. I also noticed a big change in package weight; I used to buy 10 ounce packages and now they have been reduced to 8 ounces. May not sound like a big difference to you, but it is to a person who uses the product for baking; I will live with it though.

Anyway, lets cut to the chase and get to that luscious cake. I use one trick when making cheesecakes, baking the cake in a bain marie (French term meaning "water bath"). The cake pan, wrapped in aluminum foil, rests inside a glass baking dish. Water is poured halfway up the outside of the cake pan; as the cake bakes, the water and batter equalize in temperature inside their respective dishes; the cake bakes evenly and does not crack.

By the way, that crack you see in the above photo; that is what happens when you don't use the correct utensils when moving an entire cheesecake from the springform pan bottom to a serving plate...it cracks!

Toffee Shortbread Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) package shortbread cookies, crushed
½ cup melted butter
2 (8 oz) packages mascarpone cheese
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
½ cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) bag Heathbar or Skor candy bits

Preparation:

In a small bowl, mix together the crushed cookies and butter until crumbly, but still moist. Cut out circle of parchment paper that will line the bottom of a 9” spring form pan. Use nonstick baking spray on bottom and sides of pan, press parchment circle to bottom; spray paper with nonstick spray. Press mixture onto bottom and quarter way up the sides of the pan; place in refrigerator to set for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream together mascarpone, cream cheese, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in candy bits, but do not over mix. Pour mixture into pan; wrap aluminum foil tightly around the exterior of the pan. Place pan in center of a 3 quart baking dish; pour water halfway up side of pan being careful not to get any water inside the pan or foil; bake for one hour. Partially open oven door; let cake cool for half hour before removing pan from baking dish and placing in refrigerator overnight. Carefully remove spring form pan before slicing and serving.

Makes 10 servings.

Mary Cokenour

"Sex in the Mouth" for Dessert.

There comes a time when you try out a new dessert and it's so good; well it's almost like your mouth is having an orgasm.  My latest cheesecake recipe is one such sweet dish...completely decadent and luscious.

For the holidays, it's not unusual for me to be making cookies, brownies and cheesecakes to give as gifts.  Normally I stick to my two favorite cheesecakes, "Mint Chocolate" or "Toffee Shortbread", but I had several bags of white chocolate chips leftover from cookie making and felt inspired.  I perused several baking books and online recipe sites for ideas; common ingredients were kept on the list, unusual ones discarded.  Baking temperatures were anywhere from 325F to 450F, so I kept to my normal 350F and water bath (bain-marie)baking technique.  As to time within the oven, the 60 minutes allows the cheesecake to bake entirely while the center still looks jiggly; yet it firms up completely once it sets overnight in the refrigerator.

The taste, however, is absolutely, without a doubt, completely decadent.  Rich, creamy, smooth and just the yummiest concoction your mouth could experience.  Nevermind the holidays, this would make a great dessert for Valentine's Day or any other special romantic occasion.  Enough said, lets get to the recipe for an ultimate cheesecake experience.

White Chocolate Vanilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust

2 cups ground graham crackers or Nilla wafers
8 oz unsalted butter, melted

Filling

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup sour cream
8 oz white chocolate, melted
2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Preparation:

Spray the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan with nonstick baking spray; line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray the paper with the spray also. Mix together the crust ingredients; press into bottom and slightly up sides of pan. Place in refrigerator while preparing the filling.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth; gradually add one egg at a time until incorporated. Slowly add sugar and continue to beat until fluffy; mix in the sour cream, melted chocolate and vanilla extract well.

Take pan out of refrigerator and place on aluminum foil which can be drawn up sides of the pan. Pour the filling over the crust and spread out evenly. Place pan into a roasting pan and pour warm water halfway up outside of pan. Bake for 60 minutes; turn off heat and prop oven door open slightly. Let cool for 45 minutes before removing springform pan and place in refrigerator overnight.

Loosen sides of cheesecake with knife before releasing lock on pan; lift off ring. Put large round plate over cheesecake and invert; remove bottom of pan and parchment paper. Flip cake onto another plate to cut and serve.

Option: puree mixed berries (strawberry, raspberry, black raspberry) and spread over top of cake; grate or shave white chocolate over puree.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Adventures in Cheesecake.

Now while some folks consider baking a chore; I look at it more as a minor hobby. It's not something that I can say I like alot, but I can't say I dislike it, so keep trying it out. There wasn't much cooking I wanted to do over the weekend, so decided to play with cheesecake recipes. Usually I like to mix cream cheese with mascarpone cheese which I posted about on Feb 8, 2011, but not this time. Each recipe I created has two pounds of cream cheese in it, making the cakes denser, but still moist and luscious.

Now this first recipe is Lemon Curd Cheesecake, so it tastes very like eating a lemon meringue pie, but with cheesecake instead of lots of puffy meringue. When I like a little snack, I'll spoon lemon curd onto squares of shortbread, and it's a delightful treat. However, I wanted a little more snap, so used crushed ginger snap cookies for the crust.

Lemon Curd Cheesecake

Spray a 10” spring form pan with nonstick baking spray; cut out a circle of parchment paper to line bottom of pan; spray the parchment paper also.

Crust

1 (16 oz) package gingersnap cookies

6 Tbsp melted butter

Place cookies in plastic bag and crush into a semi-fine crumble.  Mix butter with crumble; press onto bottom of pan and up sides about ½ inch.  Refrigerate for half hour.

Filling

4 (8 oz) boxes cream cheese, softened

¼ cup lemon juice

2 tsp pure lemon extract

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

Beat cream cheese, lemon juice, extract and sugar together till smooth; add eggs; beat until well incorporated.  Pour into spring form pan.  Bake for one hour at 350F; turn off heat, partially open oven door and let cake rest for half hour.   

Topping

While cake is baking, make the lemon curd topping.

 1 cup lemon juice

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces

In a large bowl, mix lemon juice, sugar and eggs together till sugar is dissolved.  Pour mixture into a large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until temperature reaches 175F, and mixture has thickened.  Remove from heat; add butter and stir until all the butter has melted.  Pour mixture through a fine strainer into a clean bowl.  After cake has rested, and curd is still slightly warm; pour curd over filling and spread evenly.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Makes 10-12 servings.

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This second cheesecake is based on the fact that I had some coffee left over in the pot, but not enough for a full cup; throwing it out seemed such a waste.

Mocha Latte Cheesecake

Spray a 10” spring form pan with nonstick baking spray; cut out a circle of parchment paper to line bottom of pan; spray the parchment paper also.

Crust

1 (16 oz) package shortbread cookies

2 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp chocolate syrup

Place cookies in plastic bag and crush into a semi-fine crumble.  Mix butter and syrup with crumble; press onto bottom of pan and up sides about ½ inch.  Refrigerate for half hour.

Filling

4 (8 oz) boxes cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup strong brewed coffee

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Beat cream cheese, melted chocolate, coffee and sugar together till smooth; add eggs and cocoa; beat until well incorporated.  Pour into spring form pan.

Bake for one hour at 350F; turn off heat, partially open oven door and let cake rest for half hour.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Topping

1 Tbsp softened cream cheese

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp vanilla powder

1 cup whipped cream

coffee syrup

Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and powder together till smooth; fold in whipped cream.  Spread over chilled filling; refrigerate for one hour.  Drizzle coffee syrup over top before cutting and serving.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Mary Cokenour