The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from
Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
Cheesecake is a regular staple in my kitchen. The husband loves cheesecake. The kids love cheesecake.
And once you find the perfect recipe, it’s hard to stray from what you know so well.
Once, I made my cheesecake recipe for a pot luck at work. I knew I was on to something when my cheesecake was gone and the poor S.ara Le.e cheesecake had barely been touched.
I used to be a fan of S.ara Le.e cheesecake. Once I had the real thing there was no going back.
We’ve tried different cheesecake recipes before – chocolate ones and banana split ones are some I remember. I’ve checked out a cheesecake tome from the library and tried a few of those recipes. But, we keep returning to the plain cheesecake recipe we love.
I was glad to see the Daring Bakers elected to take on cheesecake for April. I am confident enough in my cheesecake skills that I decided to be a little more daring this month and create a savory concoction and a sweet dessert. Recipes will follow below.
Crawfish Cheesecake
Since we are in the midst of crawfish season, I decided to figure a way to use some of that local bounty.
It looks like crawfish cheesecakes have become a big thing in
restaurants down here. Some serve it as an appetizer with an andouille sauce.
After finding a recipe for crawfish cheesecake from Chef John Folse, I took different aspects of it and adapted it Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake.
The crawfish I used were actually born, bred, caught and packaged in my hometown. I can tell a difference between the ones stateside and the ones from China. The Chinese crawfish seem to be bigger and rubbery. Louisiana crawfish are the best to use.
I elected not to use my springform pan, as I reserved that to make my sweet cheesecake. I also didn’t have a pan large enough to provide for the hot water bath.
The recipe I used also called for lemon juice, but I was fresh out of lemons. The lime juice came off the bench. You could not really tell any difference.
Instead of graham cracker crumbs, the crust was made up of Ritz crackers and butter. The various Cajun seasonings and the Cajun trinity – with the celery replaced by garlic – rounded out the ingredients.
When it came to the base recipe, I was a little hesitant to a cheesecake recipe. I had no idea if it would come out marvelous or wind up a complete dud.
I can say I was very pleased with the cheesecake itself, but am just not a fan of savory cheesecakes. I ate it more like a dip with crackers, as I found that the whole concept it left a weight on my stomach. I brought half of it to work to share and the people I work with enjoyed it, with one coworker asking for the recipe.
If I’m going to have crawfish and cream cheese, I’d rather have it in dip style ;).
Key Lime CheesecakeO.K…. whoever came up with the concept of key limes, I’d like to strangle them.
Notice the difference between the regular lime and the key lime. Now, what kind of juicer do I have? One more suited to the regular lime.
The husband loves key lime pie. I have only made one key lime pie in our 12 years of marriage. The recipe was from the Betty Crocker Cookbook and was more of a “faux” key lime pie (meaning that I used regular limes). I was not impressed.
When I saw the suggestion to make a key lime cheesecake, I decided to take that particular concept a little bit further. And, since the husband loves cheesecake and loves key lime pie, what better opportunity than to marry his two favorite pies together.
I found a key lime cheesecake recipe from
Epicurious.com and decided to again adapt the Daring Baker’s cheesecake recipe to fit my needs.
It was my full intention to totally use key limes for the whole cheesecake. But, after juicing about nine of them to get almost two tablespoons of key lime juice – when I needed 10 total for the recipe – the regular limes (which were labeled Persian limes) came off the bench again.
I definitely used my springform pan for this one. Years ago, I grew tired of the cheap springform pans that I had picked up at my local supermega discount store. The band part would always become warped and rusted. So, the husband encouraged me to pick up a rather hefty but expensive
Kaiser pan at Williams-Sonoma. It is now the only pan I use to cook my cheesecakes and has served me well!
I also decided to use a sour cream topping for this cheesecake. Our favorite, plain old faithful recipe has a great sour cream topping and makes the cheesecake even more yummy (not to mention it hides any cracks!). The sour cream topping on this cheesecake made a thick upper crust. I think I may have used too much sour cream.
I used a box of vanilla wafers for the crust – which made a thick crust -- and made a key lime/lime curd to layer on top of the crust.
The batter consisted of sugar rubbed with lime zest and key lime and lime juices. This batter then sat on top of the lime curd.
After about an hour of cooking time, the cheesecake was still jiggly – which frightened me. But after again consulting with the recipe, I was relieved to find a little jiggle was good! ;)
I chose again to forgo the water bath, but it looks like my cheesecake came out with few cracks if any.
From the looks, it looks like a success. Since I just finished it a few minutes ago, the key lime cheesecake nees to cool down and have a night in the fridge before my taster gives his critique.
After the cheesecake overnighted in the fridge, I pulled it out and cut a piece for the husband before he left for work this morning.
Again, the consistence of this cake came out spot on. Husband said he liked it but thinks it would be even better if I adapted our tried and true cheesecake recipe in a key lime manner.
I tried a bit of it. There is the most subtle hint of lime in the cheesecake batter, with the key lime curd taking you home with a burst of limeness at the end. This is definitely a keeper!
The RecipesAbbey’s Infamous CheesecakeCrawfish Cheesecake Recipe
Adapted from Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake and Chef John Folse
Crust:
6 TBS melted butter
1 egg white
2 cups crushed butter crackers (like Ritz)
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, egg white and crackers. Press mixture into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes to crisp. Remove from oven and cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 250°F.
Filling:
2 TBS butter
1 pound fresh Louisiana crawfish tails, chopped
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
3 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp each of salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder
2 TBS minced onions
2 TBS minced bell pepper
2 TBS minced garlic
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Saute crawfish in butter until well cooked, about 15 to 30 minutes.
Chop crawfish. Set aside.
Combine cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, minced vegetables and seasonings in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Scrape sides of bowl with spatula.
Blend until smooth and creamy.
Fold in the chopped crawfish.
Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake 45 minutes to an hour, until almost done. This can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.
Key Lime Cheesecakeadapted from Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake and this
one found on Epicurious.com
Lime custard
6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons fresh Key lime juice or regular lime juice
1 teaspoon grated Key lime peel or regular lime peel
For lime custard:
Whisk all ingredients in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until custard thickens and boils for 30 seconds, about 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally (mixture will thicken).
crust:
1 box vanilla wafers, processed to almost fine
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
3 tablespoons fresh Key lime juice or regular lime juice
1 tablespoon grated Key lime peel or regular lime peel, rubbed in the 1 cup of sugar
Sour Cream topping:
1 16-ounce container sour cream
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F .
Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.
Combine the sugar and lime zest together.
Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream and lime juice and blend until smooth and creamy.
Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface.
Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven.
Stir sour cream, sugar and vanilla together with a whisk. Once combined, carefully pour on top of the cheesecake. Turn the oven back on at 350 degrees F and put the topped cheesecake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven..
Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.
The 2009 October Daring Bakers' challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macaroons from Claudia Fleming's The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
Once the cake was assembled and the 
