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pallas_athena) wrote2011-12-16 01:01 am
pallas_athena) wrote2011-12-16 01:01 am
Entry tags:
Spiced pumpkin cheesecake
This cheesecake was well-received at my recent Thanksgiving dinner, and there have been so many requests for the recipe I thought I would put it up here.
The basic recipe came from The New Best Recipe cookbook, published by the magazine Cook's Illustrated. I highly recommend both.
The US recipe calls for graham crackers; the common UK substitute is digestive biscuits, but I think the addition of ginger biscuits and amaretti is a winner. You can also easily make this gluten-free by substituting gluten-free biscuits.
This is a BIG cheesecake, to feed the entire Thanksgiving table. You can do a half-recipe if you're cooking for a normal amount of people.
Since it's an American recipe, "cups" are American cups: 8 fluid ounces, rather than the British 10. Tbsp = tablespoon; tsp = teaspoon.
Preheat oven to 325F/160C.
Wrap the outside of your cake pan in 3 layers of aluminum foil. This is to keep it watertight when it sits in the water bath during baking.
CRUST:
1/2 pack digestive biscuits (no chocolate)
1/2 pack Ginger Nuts
A few amaretti biscuits, if you have them
At least 2 Tbsp (1 ounce) butter, melted, preferably unsalted
A fuckton of cinnamon
About 1/2 teaspoon salt
Press into bottom and up sides of cake pan. Bake 15 or 20 minutes until firm and starting to brown. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
The recipe tells you to use a food processor to reduce the biscuits to crumbs, but I pounded the crap out of them in a mortar and pestle. The plastic bag/chopping board/bottom of a bottle method works too. The amount of melted butter should be enough to coat, but not saturate, the crumbs, with no extra melted butter visible in the bowl. If you use too much, butter will leak out the bottom of your springform pan, which is fun.
The salt in the crust is crucial, because otherwise it turns out far too sweet. Salt makes the whole thing addictive.
The amounts I give for the crust are inexact because, in my personal cheesecake canon, the crust should not only cover the bottom of the pan but also climb at least halfway up the sides. Some people only like the crust on the bottom. These people are wrong. However, if you are one of them, adjust the amounts downwards.
FILLING:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg (= grate until bored)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
(I tend to use wantonly heaped measures for all spices except cloves)
15 oz (1 can) pumpkin purée
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese (normal. If you use the "light" stuff I will hurt you. Also your cheesecake will suck)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp juice from 1 lemon
5 large eggs
1 cup double cream
Boil a full kettle of water for the water bath in which your cake pan will sit during baking.
Open the can of pumpkin. The cookbook gives elaborate instructions for pressing the excess liquid out of it with paper towels; you can do this if you wish.
Mix the sugar, spices and salt together in a small bowl.
Put the cream cheese in a separate, larger bowl. Cut into manageable chunks with a knife, then beat to a creamy consistency. Gradually add the sugar mixture; beat them all together like a huge BDSM orgy.
Add the pumpkin, vanilla and lemon juice; beat until combined. Add 3 of the eggs; beat in; add the other 2; keep beating like von Karajan conducting the 9th. (If you're using a mixer, this should all be on medium to low speed, also like von Karajan.) Add the cream and stir slowly to combine, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Pour the filling into the pan over the baked crust. Smooth the surface if it needs it. Place the foil-covered cake pan *in a roasting pan* in the oven; the rack should be a bit below centre. Pour the recently-boiled water into the roasting pan so the cake pan is now sitting in a bath. This keeps your cake from going brown and cracking while it bakes.
Bake about 1 1/2 hours. The cake should still wobble slightly in the centre when shaken. Take the pan carefully out of the oven -- you can either move the precarious roasting pan full of hot water or just extract the dripping wet cake pan; up to you. Place on a rack to cool to room temperature for at least an hour, then cover in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. (It will keep up to 3 days, but the crust will start to go soggy after 1.)
Before serving, make sure all your friends know how much time and trouble you took. Make it clear that enjoying the goddamn cheesecake is not optional. Take note of anyone showing insufficient signs of enjoyment. They are no longer your friend.
Leftover cheesecake, however, is your best friend ever.
The basic recipe came from The New Best Recipe cookbook, published by the magazine Cook's Illustrated. I highly recommend both.
The US recipe calls for graham crackers; the common UK substitute is digestive biscuits, but I think the addition of ginger biscuits and amaretti is a winner. You can also easily make this gluten-free by substituting gluten-free biscuits.
This is a BIG cheesecake, to feed the entire Thanksgiving table. You can do a half-recipe if you're cooking for a normal amount of people.
Since it's an American recipe, "cups" are American cups: 8 fluid ounces, rather than the British 10. Tbsp = tablespoon; tsp = teaspoon.
Preheat oven to 325F/160C.
Wrap the outside of your cake pan in 3 layers of aluminum foil. This is to keep it watertight when it sits in the water bath during baking.
CRUST:
1/2 pack digestive biscuits (no chocolate)
1/2 pack Ginger Nuts
A few amaretti biscuits, if you have them
At least 2 Tbsp (1 ounce) butter, melted, preferably unsalted
A fuckton of cinnamon
About 1/2 teaspoon salt
Press into bottom and up sides of cake pan. Bake 15 or 20 minutes until firm and starting to brown. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
The recipe tells you to use a food processor to reduce the biscuits to crumbs, but I pounded the crap out of them in a mortar and pestle. The plastic bag/chopping board/bottom of a bottle method works too. The amount of melted butter should be enough to coat, but not saturate, the crumbs, with no extra melted butter visible in the bowl. If you use too much, butter will leak out the bottom of your springform pan, which is fun.
The salt in the crust is crucial, because otherwise it turns out far too sweet. Salt makes the whole thing addictive.
The amounts I give for the crust are inexact because, in my personal cheesecake canon, the crust should not only cover the bottom of the pan but also climb at least halfway up the sides. Some people only like the crust on the bottom. These people are wrong. However, if you are one of them, adjust the amounts downwards.
FILLING:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg (= grate until bored)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
(I tend to use wantonly heaped measures for all spices except cloves)
15 oz (1 can) pumpkin purée
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese (normal. If you use the "light" stuff I will hurt you. Also your cheesecake will suck)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp juice from 1 lemon
5 large eggs
1 cup double cream
Boil a full kettle of water for the water bath in which your cake pan will sit during baking.
Open the can of pumpkin. The cookbook gives elaborate instructions for pressing the excess liquid out of it with paper towels; you can do this if you wish.
Mix the sugar, spices and salt together in a small bowl.
Put the cream cheese in a separate, larger bowl. Cut into manageable chunks with a knife, then beat to a creamy consistency. Gradually add the sugar mixture; beat them all together like a huge BDSM orgy.
Add the pumpkin, vanilla and lemon juice; beat until combined. Add 3 of the eggs; beat in; add the other 2; keep beating like von Karajan conducting the 9th. (If you're using a mixer, this should all be on medium to low speed, also like von Karajan.) Add the cream and stir slowly to combine, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Pour the filling into the pan over the baked crust. Smooth the surface if it needs it. Place the foil-covered cake pan *in a roasting pan* in the oven; the rack should be a bit below centre. Pour the recently-boiled water into the roasting pan so the cake pan is now sitting in a bath. This keeps your cake from going brown and cracking while it bakes.
Bake about 1 1/2 hours. The cake should still wobble slightly in the centre when shaken. Take the pan carefully out of the oven -- you can either move the precarious roasting pan full of hot water or just extract the dripping wet cake pan; up to you. Place on a rack to cool to room temperature for at least an hour, then cover in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. (It will keep up to 3 days, but the crust will start to go soggy after 1.)
Before serving, make sure all your friends know how much time and trouble you took. Make it clear that enjoying the goddamn cheesecake is not optional. Take note of anyone showing insufficient signs of enjoyment. They are no longer your friend.
Leftover cheesecake, however, is your best friend ever.