** Updated with photos (such as they are) and recipe**
Thank the TWD founders for allowing us to go out of order this month! I was able to make Dorie’s Tall and Creamy Cheesecake (pages 235-7 of Baking: From My Home to Yours), a pick by Anne of Anne Strawberry, but I did tweak it quite a bit. The result was a cheesecake that I liked so much, I’m definitely putting it on the repeat list, and so far the only cheesecake to have made that list is my grandmother’s.
First, if you’re wondering where the pictures are, they are on my hard drive back home. After being home for two days from my food-poisoning-Las Vegas-trip, I got on a plane again and headed up to Wisconsin to visit my auntie. My pics are at home, and she has dial up, which makes it virtually impossible for me to hot link to blogs, etc. ‘Nuff said. When I get back in a week, I’ll upload my pictures, and add recipes and links that I’m unable to include right now.
Second, I made a lemon version of the cheesecake, but I added more lemon than Dorie’s recipe called for. By that I mean that I used a lot more lemon, and I’m glad I did. My notes, however, are also back home. Inspiration for that came from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.
Third, my crust was inspired by Shirley Corriher’s nut crust (found in her lovely new book, BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes, and an America’s Test Kitchen’s animal cracker crust. All I can tell you at this point is that I used a cup of macadamia nuts, ground, plus about 1-1/2 cups of ground animal crackers, mixed with 6 Tbsp. of melted butter. I pressed that into a 9-1/2 inch pan, and baked it until golden brown. I allowed it to cool, and then poured in the cheesecake mixture.
Speaking of the cheesecake mixture, I remember that in addition to lemon juice and zest, I added a couple drops of lemon oil to punch up the flavor. I also used all low fat cream cheese and sour cream. Instead of a full 1-1/3 cups of either sour cream or cream, I used 1/3 cup of the low fat sour cream, and then I whipped 1 cup of the cream, and gently folded that into the cheesecake mixture – another idea from Shirley Corriher.
My cheesecake pan has a lip, so it would not fit in my roasting pan. I ended up cooking it at about 275 F to 325 F for 2.5 hours, and I constantly fiddled with the temperature, and cooked the cake until the top was a light golden color, and about a 3-inch circle in the middle “jiggled.” I placed a pan of water in the oven to do what I could do keep it in a moist environment, but I’m going to get another pan because this should really be cooked in a water bath. All that being said, the cheesecake turned out fabulously, and this is coming from someone who is not a big fan of cheesecake.
Finally, as if all that wasn’t enough, I topped the whole thing with a passion fruit “curd.” I found a recipe on the Food Network site, and I took one look at it and new that it would NOT set like a curd, but might make a tasty sauce. I was right – the sauce was fantastic on the cheesecake, absolutely fantastic.
Thanks to Ann for a great pick! Next week: butterscotch pudding! Be sure to check out the TWD blogroll to see what others have been up to. Recipe after the jump . . . .
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