Amaretto Cheesecake

Michelle has once again outdone herself with making a cheesecake for my birthday. I happened upon a package of Amaretto cookies and thought they would make a terrific crust. I brought the idea to her and she did the rest.

So good! Rich and creamy and very flavorful. I couldn’t get my parent’s to stop eating on it, until I shoved it in the freezer!

2 ½ cups ground amaretto cookies (about 1 and half 7.5 ounce packages)
6 tablespoons butter, melted
4 – 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 ¼ cup sugar
5 large eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt (we used 2 % Fage plain)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup amaretto liqueur (we used di Amore Amaretto)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

In a food processor, mix together butter and ground cookies for the crust. Press into a 10 inch springform pan, coming a little up the sides.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together cream cheese and sugar. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the Greek yogurt, vanilla extract and liqueur.

Pour into pan and tap against the counter to bring up any bubbles.

Bake for 2 ½ hours. If it still jiggles, cook for 30 minutes more.

Remove from oven and bring oven temperature up to 500 degrees F. Brown top, about 10-15 minutes.

Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven with door cracked open for thirty minutes. Remove from oven and run a knife around the edge, about an inch deep to loosen. Leave on the counter to cool for thirty minutes. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before slicing.

Satsuma Creole Cream Cheese Cheesecake

Michelle picked up a whole crate of satsuma’s for me and so I took her some Creole cream cheese I picked up from Dorignac’s for her to make me a cheesecake. I’m super helpful like that!

I had this cheesecake several years ago at Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House but they added a bunch of other fruit to the compote topping and it was super distracting. I figured doing it with only satsumas would be better and it was. Segment the satsuma’s over a bowl to catch all the juice as you need a ½ cup for the glaze. I plan on using the delicious compote over other things, so I doubled the recipe.

If you don’t have satsumas where you live, you could move or, easier still, use mandarin oranges or tangerines.

If you don’t have the Creole cream cheese you can make your own or substitute sour cream.

The cheesecake is super silky with crunchy crust and a hint of orange. The addition of the compote really takes it to the next level.

Crust
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup pecans, chopped fine
½ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Filling
5 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1¼ cups sugar
1 cup Creole cream cheese
2 teaspoons satsuma zest
1/4 cup satsuma juice
3 medium eggs

Make the crust

In a mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, pecans, sugar and melted butter. Press into a 9 x 13-inch spring-form pan. Refrigerate until ready to fill.

Make the filling

Preheat oven to 250˚F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer whip the cream cheese. Add the sugar and mix until smooth, occasionally scraping down the sides with a spatula. Add the Creole cream cheese, zest and juice and mix until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add one egg at a time and mix well after each egg. Pour the batter into the prepared crust and tap the pan several times on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake for 2 hours, until the center of the cake is firm to the touch. Let cool at room temperature for fifteen minutes before running a knife around the outside edge to help keep the top from cracking. Let it continue to cool before refrigerating until ready to serve.

Optional Topping of Satsuma Compote
8 satsumas
½ cup satsuma juice
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 ounce Grand Marnier liqueur

Peel and segment satsumas to remove the membrane. Heat the juice, sugar and cinnamon stick in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the liquid becomes syrupy, approximately 20 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and fold in the satsuma segments. Add Grand Marnier and pour over the cheesecake slices.

Limoncello Cheesecake

Michelle made a limoncello cheesecake for my birthday using some of the homemade limoncello I made in the late fall. I’m very thankful to my friend Dar who gave me a terrific recipe (Place together the zest of 12 lemons with a bottle of Everclear and store for 4 weeks. Next, strain out the peel and mix with equal parts simple syrup and set aside for another 4 weeks). As you can see below, it was beautifully yellow and very refreshing sipped right out of the freezer.

For the cheesecake, Michelle used ½ cup of the limoncello and the final dessert was so good. Lemony and light and refreshing. You can see the two layers of filling and topping that combined for one tasty cheesecake.

We had a flat of fresh strawberries, so we added one for decoration

She used a 10 ½ inch springform pan and, once the topping was added, it made for a very full pan. If your pan is smaller, consider cooking ⅓ of the batter in muffin tins to make sure you don’t make a mess of your oven.

Crust:

5 tablespoons melted butter
1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs

Filling:

4 packages of cream cheese, room temperature
5 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large lemons zested and juiced (⅓ cup fresh lemon juice)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt

Topping:

20 ounces of sour cream (NOT light or low fat)
½ cup limoncello
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 egg

Butter a 10.5 inch springform pan. Mix melted butter and graham cracker crumbs together and press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes.

While the crust bakes, combine the cream cheese with the sugar in a mixer until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in the lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and salt until smooth.

Remove the crust from the oven and drop the temperature of the oven to 200 degrees F.

Pour filling into prepared pan and place in oven to bake for 2 hours, until the topping is set.

While the filling is baking, prepare the topping by mixing together the sour cream, limoncello, sugar, corn starch and egg.

After two hours, remove almost baked cheesecake from the oven. Raise oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Pour topping on to the top of the cheesecake. Return pan to oven to bake for 17-20 minutes or until top is set. Remove from oven and, after ten minutes, run a knife along the edge to keep the cheesecake from cracking. Cool for 30 minutes more before placing in the refrigerator to cool completely, at least 4 hours before serving.

I can’t believe I ate the whole thing

Bourbon Caramel Pecan Cheesecake

Michelle made an awesome cheesecake for my 50th birthday. She used as a stepping off point, the recipe from WildFlour Pastry bakery in Charleston that was published in Garden and Gun. She made many changes and it resulted in an incredible cheesecake.

To make the caramel – put a sealed can of sweetened condensed milk that you’ve peeled the label off into your slow cooker. Cover entirely with water. Cook on low overnight for about 10 hours. Remove from the water to cool completely before opening.

Crust:
1/2 cup pecans, toasted
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons butter, melted

Cheesecake:
4 packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon
3/4 cup caramel (see above), warmed slightly
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/2 cup caramel
2 teaspoons cream (or milk)
2 teaspoons bourbon
1/4 teaspoon salt
whole and chopped toasted and salted pecans for garnish
flake salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Pulse the pecans in a food processor until they are finely ground. Add in the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter and pulse until combined. Press into the bottom of a greased 10-inch springform pan. Lightly brown crust for about 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool while you make the cheesecake.

Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl whip the softened cream cheese until it is light and fluffy. Pour in the sugar and mix to combine. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream until well combined. Mix in vanilla extract and bourbon. Add in the warmed caramel and salt and mix until combined.

Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 3 hours in a low oven. Turn oven off and let cool in oven for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the sides to release from the pan. Let cool in pan on rack another 30 minutes before putting it the refrigerator to cool completely before adding topping, at least three hours. We cooled ours overnight.

Warm the remaining caramel in the microwave. Add to it 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 3 teaspoons of cream (milk would work if you have no cream) and 2 tablespoons of bourbon. Whisk until smooth. Carefully spread on the top of the cheesecake. Top with pecans. Sprinkle with flake salt.

It was a very happy birthday to me!

 

Lemon Blackberry Cheesecake

I cleaned out the gutters at Michelle’s house and my reward was a special cheesecake. The recipe is from John Besh and instead of making a two layer cake, we combined it all to make a very pretty lavender colored cheesecake that tastes even better than it looks. We replaced the vanilla with limoncello as well as using Michelle’s low and slow method of baking. His batter makes enough for a 10 inch cheesecake – glad we didn’t go with the 9 inch the original recipe listed.

3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 packages cream cheese
1½ cup sugar
¾ cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon limoncello (or vanilla extract)
1½ pints blackberries, divided
Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 200°F.

Butter a 10-inch springform pan. Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter in a medium bowl. Press onto the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared pan.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Blend in the milk, then beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in the sour cream, flour and limoncello (or vanilla) until smooth.

In a food processor or blender, purée 1 pint of the blackberries with the lemon zest and juice. Pour the purée into the cheese mixture along with the remaining 1⁄2 pint of whole blackberries and mix well.

Pour the filling on top of the prepared crust. Bake for 3 hours at 200 degrees F. Raise the temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking for about 20 minutes or until the top is set. Allow to cool for 30 minutes on the counter. About 10 minutes into the cooling, run a knife along the inside edge, so that it doesn’t crack as it pulls from the side. Once cooled, move it to the refrigerator to finish chilling until ready to serve.

Limoncello Cheesecake For My Birthday

Michelle made me an awesome cheesecake for my birthday. With lemon juice and limoncello liquor, it was amazingly creamy and lemony and off the hook delicious.

This makes a lot of cheesecake – it almost overfilled a 10″ springform pan. You could use two store bought graham cracker pie shells, instead. If you’re making your own crust, it will take 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs mixed with 5 tablespoons of melted butter to coat the bottom of the well buttered pan.

Because this is a low and slow method of cheesecake cookery, do not use a water bath in the oven.

 

Limoncello Cheesecake

4 packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
5 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt (we used Fage)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup limoncello liquor
1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon peel
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Whip the cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add the sugar and mix to combine. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the flour and yogurt. Slowly mix in the lemon juice and limoncello. Add in the vanilla extract and lemon peel.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Place in the oven and bake for 3 hours.

Remove from oven and crank the heat to 500 degrees F. Place the cheesecake back in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes to brown the top. Turn off the oven and crack the door and let the cheese cake cool down for 30 minutes. Then run a knife along the edge to release from the pan and cool on the counter for another 30 minutes before putting it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before releasing the sides of the pan.