Friday, February 26, 2010

Baking Class: Cheesecakes

 Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake with Oreo Crust


Baking Class has been over for awhile now, but I still have lots of goodies to post from it.  During the last week of class, we made cheesecakes.  This is a recipe adapted from the Daring Bakers; the students made a lot of different varieties.  It's a very adaptable recipe - so have fun and design your own flavor combination!



 Anna & Jen


Graham Cracker Crust

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.

Sean, Andrew, & JC

Oreo Crust

1 ½ cups oreo cookie crumbs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.


Batter Mixing

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Batter - Before Baking


Cheesecake

24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tbsp liqueur, optional

Be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature, especially the eggs and cream cheese. This will help keep cracks from forming in the top of the cheesecake.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put a kettle of water on to boil for the waterbath. Wrap springform pan in 3-4 layers of aluminum foil to prevent (or lessen at least!) leakage.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 1 minute) and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Beating at low speed, add the heavy cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir in the liqueur, if using. The batter will be thin.

(Note: If you're using a hand mixer, you will want to increase the mixing times).

Bake the cheesecake for about 80-90 minutes in a water bath; it should hold together, but there will still be a lot of jiggle in the center. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake from the water bath, and let it finish cooling on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight, and bring to room temperature before serving.

Lemon Cheesecake


Flavor Variations

Lemon:  Replace liqueur with fresh lemon juice, and stir in 2 teaspoons lemon zest.

Coffee:  Dissolve 2/3 tablespoon espresso powder into 1 tablespoon very hot water, and cover until using.  Add to batter at the same time as the vanilla extract.  Omit the lemon juice, and use Kahlua for the liqueur.

Chocolate Swirl:  In a separate bowl, stir together about one-third of the batter and 3 ounces melted semisweet chocolate. Pour the plain batter on top of the cooled crumb crust. Drop the chocolate batter mixture on top of the other batter in spoonfuls. With a knife, gently swirl the chocolate batter through the plain batter.

Coffee with Nutella Swirl : See my previous post.

Pumpkin:  See my previous post.
Coffee Cheesecake with Chocolate Swirl

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2 comments:

  1. looks wonderful! I just ordered a cheesecake pan to give one a try. Can't wait !!



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