Description
Thursday was leftovers, Friday we went out for dinner, tonight we are going out again, Sunday, Brock and I are going to a function, and Monday, I’m going to be out – maybe I’ll put Brock in charge of dinner. Anyway, I still have some recipes to post and here’s one of them…it was for Thursday night when I had a bunch of girlfriends over. It’s adapted from Ina Garten’s, ‘Barefoot Contessa Family Style’, and it’s a really great cheesecake. This is a recipe that isn’t supposed to crack – mine did, but then I covered it with berries. Below I’m writing down what I’ll try differently next time.
Ingredients
Raspberry Cheesecake
Crust
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs AND 1 T. sugar AND 6 T. butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 350 and combine the 3 ingredients in a bowl, stirring until everything is moistened. Pour into a 10-inch springform pan and press the crumbs in evenly, pushing them up the sides by a half inch or so. Bake for 8 minutes and then allow it to cool to room temperature.
Filling
5 packages (8 oz/454 g) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
5 whole extra-large eggs, room temperature
2 extra-large egg yolks, room temperature
1/4 c. sour cream
1 T. lemon zest (usually 1 large lemon)
1 t. vanilla
Instructions
Heat the oven to 450, and once the crust has cooled, carefully grease the exposed sides of the pan. Cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer on medium-high speed until it’s all fluffy, about 5 minutes – but start out slow – it’s a heavy mixture!
Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, 2 at a time, mixing well in between and scraping down the sides of the bowl and beater as needed. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, lemon zest and vanilla and mix thoroughly. This is where the recipe says to pour it into the crust and pop it into the oven, but my friend Kyla suggested a water bath – so next time, I’ll make a ‘bowl’ out of heavy foil, place it in a large pan of warm/hot water and set the springform pan (with the cooled crust), inside the ‘bowl’ to keep the water out, and then pour the filling in and put it into the oven.
Bake for 15 minutes at 450, then reduce the heat to 225 and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off, open the door wide and allow the cake – the center probably won’t be set – to sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven (and remove it from the water bath) and allow it to cool for another 3-4 hours. Wrap it well and refrigerate overnight.
Topping
1 c. clear fruit jelly (apple, raspberry – I used crab apple)
2-3 c. fresh berries (I used raspberries, but mixed berries would be lovely I think)
If you make the topping, gently warm and melt the jelly in a large microwave safe bowl (in the microwave). Add the berries, mix gently to coat, arrange the berries on top and refrigerate the cake until you’re ready to serve it. Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife (run it under the hot tap) around the edges, before removing the sides of the pan. To cut it, I heat up the knife (and cleaned it off) in between each slice.
- Category: Cakes, Cheesecake, Raspberry