Lemon Cheesecake with Ginger Shortbread Crust

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I was recently invited by Walkers Shortbread to become an ambassador for their company. I've been a lifelong fan of Walkers Shortbread, so I jumped at the chance to join their program. One of the things I love about Walkers products is that they are made with all natural ingredients. The original shortbread is still made with just four ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, and salt, that's it!
As an ambassador, Walkers Shortbread has supplied me with several boxes of their cookies (score!). Included in this box was a box of the stem ginger shortbread cookies. I had never had the stem ginger cookies, one of Walkers' gourmet line of shortbreads but they may have become my new favorite. They are the perfect marriage of a shortbread cookie and gingersnap! I decided to grind them up and use the ginger cookies to make the crust for my lemon cheese cake.

Lemon Cheesecake with Ginger Shortbread Crust

Source: Food.com, by studentchef, adapted

PRINTABLE RECIPE

For the Crust:

1 5.3 ounce package of Walkers Stem Ginger Cookies, finely ground

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

For the Filling:

1 lb cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cheesecake topping:

3/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream

 Blackberry Topping:

2 1/2 cups of fresh blackberries, divided

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

METHOD:

For the Crust:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter the sides of an 8 inch springform pan.

Place the Walkers ginger shortbread cookies into a food processor and process until they become crumbs with no large pieces. Stir in the melted butter and press the mixture evenly over the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan.

Place the springform pan on top of a flat baking pan or cookie pan. Bake the crust for about 5-8 minutes of until it starts to brown a bit around the edges.

For the Cheesecake Filling:

 In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in the  sour cream. Add the in beaten eggs, in a slow stream and mix until well combined. Scrape down the bowl, and stir in lemon juice, zest, and vanilla.

Pour into baked ginger crust and place in oven. Immediately turn heat down to 300 degrees F and bake for one hour.

Turn oven off. Crack open the oven door and let cake sit in oven for another 30 minutes. Remove cake from the oven and set on rack while mixing up the topping.

For cheesecake topping:

Set oven temp to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine all three ingredients, mix with a spoon until smooth.

Spread the mixture over top of baked cheesecake. If your cheese cake has any cracks on top,use the topping to fill them in.

Bake until set, about 10-15 minutes. Allow cake to cool for several hours before removing side of springform pan. Chill until ready to serve.

For the blackberry topping:

Place 1 1/2 cups of the blackberries into a small sauce pan. Add the rest of the ingredients, cook over medium high heat until the berries release their juices, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining blackberries. Top the cooled cheesecake with the blackberry mixture. 

Cheesecake can be wrapped closely in plastic and refrigerated for about four days or frozen two weeks.

 This lemony cheesecake has a ginger-laced shortbread crust and is topped with a blackberry compote. It would be the perfect ending for your Mother's Day lunch or brunch.

Walkers has provided me with a special promo code for my readers to save 20% off your next purchase from, www.walkersus.com. Go to the site, place your order for any of their regular priced products and when you check out enter the code #HBBSPRING to receive the 20% discount on your order. This is offer is good until May 24th, 2013, so don't miss out!

Smoked Salmon Cheesecake

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Sorry for the lack of posting but life has gotten in the way as of late. I'm hoping to get things back on track! One of the things that kept me from blogging last week was catering for a bridal brunch. I made this smoked salmon cheesecake as part of the brunch menu. It's a savory version of a dessert cheesecake. This was the first savory cheesecake I've ever made and I loved the end product. It even has a "crust" made from dry breadcrumbs!  The cheesecake is filled with smoked salmon, dill, scallions, and capers. It's all the things you love on your morning bagel, baked up together. This savory cheesecake makes an elegant addition to any party. 

I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of the inside  of the cheesecake but I don't think the hostess would have appreciated a missing slice!

Smoked Salmon Cheesecake

(printable recipe)
(Source Women's Day December, 2006)

INGREDIENTS 

1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs

3- 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened 

3 large eggs 

1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream  

2 Tbsp flour  

11/2 tsp grated lemon zest  

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper  

4 oz sliced smoked salmon, coarsely chopped  

6 scallions, thinly sliced  

2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill  

1 Tbsp capers, chopped  

PREPARATION

Heat oven to 325°F. Coat bottom and sides of an 8-in. springform pan with nonstick spray. Add bread crumbs; tilt and rotate pan to cover bottom and sides with crumbs. Beat cream cheese in a large bowl with mixer on medium speed 1 minute or just until smooth. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until blended. Beat in sour cream, flour, zest, salt and pepper until combined. Stir in salmon, scallions, dill and capers. Pour into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake 40 minutes or until center is just set. Remove pan to wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate covered. Shortly before serving: Remove side of pan. Place cheesecake on serving plate. Cut in wedges. Serve with crackers or toasted baguette.

Cheesecake pops

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As far back as I can remember, my mom has been making cheesecakes. ( I think I learned to make them prenatally!) It was made for company, holidays, and many special occasions. She made one with a sour cream topping and a chocolate cheesecake, which was our family favorite. Then she started making a New York Style cheesecake. It had a cookie crust and the cheesecake was tall and felt like it weighed several pound. The center of the cheesecake was so creamy it almost oozed out when cut. Once people had this cheesecake they'd ask for it again and again. At some point, while I was in high school, she started making them to sell. I usually helped her get the cheesecakes made. On one particular week-end before a holiday, she had a large order, something like 18 or 20 cheesecakes, I think. As we started making the cheesecakes, I reach over to turn on the water in the sink, it spits and sputters but no water comes out. As we're trying to figure out why we have no water, my dad walk in and informs us the a pipe has broken and he's turned the water to the house off! These things happen when you have a well and live on a farm. He promises he'll have the water on again as soon as possible. So with nothing more than a few gallon containers of water to clean up with, we made all 18 or so cheesecakes. After we finished them all, sometime later that evening, we had water again. Now that's a daring baker!
So I had no worries about making the cheesecake part of the challenge. Now scooping it out and attaching it to a stick was a different story! Although quite messy, it was a fun twist. However, I'm happy I didn't have to attempt it with no water!
Thanks Deborah and Elle for a fun challenge. Be sure to check out all the other DB'rs cheesecake pops.

Here is the recipe. It really does make about 40 pops. I dipped some into semisweet chocolate and some into white chocolate. I rolled some chopped pecans and some into finely grated chocolate. Then since they were already on a stick, I put them into a flower pot for a kind of cheesecake flower arrangement and took them to my book club.

Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)


Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.



Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes. (It takes at least 45 min. I think I baked mine 50.)


Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.


When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.


Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Paradise Lost??

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Yeah vacation is great, but by the time you go through security, get on the plane for 5 hours, go through customs, reclaim your bags, go back through security (where they confiscate the jerk sauce and other spices you forgot were in your carry-on) wait 3 hours, get on another plane, get in your car that's developed an alarming shudder over the week it sat in the airport parking lot, get home with two suitcases filled to the top with smelly clothes. The vacation glow has worn off and your feeling somewhat less relaxed. Oh yeah, then suddenly remember your rash decision to cater an art museum luncheon for 20 on Monday. No problem. What was I thinking?!
By the way all the food has to be cooked ahead of time and only warmed at the museum because no cooking is allowed. So coming up with a menu that could be made ahead, but still needs look "artistic"(event directors idea), was a bit of a challenge.
So I hit the ground running, shopped for all the food and started cooking.

Salad of mixed greens with apple, blue cheese, spiced walnuts, and cranberries in a balsamic vinaigrette

For the entree I made chicken and mushroom filled crepes with a mornay sauce and asparagus

Unfortunately, in the chaotic frenzy of trying to keep the crepes warm and get them served as quickly as possible, I forgot to get a picture. *sigh* Not superwoman after all:(

The events director for the museum requested that the dessert be made in individual servings and be "something very chocolaty. So before I left for vacation, while surfing through various foodblogs, I came across the recipe for Shockolate Cheesecake on Quellia's blog All thing's edible.

I adapted the recipe a bit for my needs and made these adorable individual chocolate cheesecakes with a brownie crust and Gran Marnier whipped cream.
Perfect! Individual, beautiful and very chocolatey.

This is a low-fat recipe however I used all full fat dairy for mine. I wanted a very rich chocolate taste. I also added 2 tsp Gran Marnier into the batter.
1 x box (15.5 oz/440 g) low-fat brownie mix (I made brownies -not low fat)
2 cups 1% cottage cheese
1 cup light sour cream (not fat-free)
1 x pkg (8 oz/250 g) light cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 ounces (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate squares, melted and cooled slightly (see Tip)
1 cup fat-free egg substitute or 4 whole eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh raspberries
Melted chocolate for drizzling (optional)
Directions:
Shockolate Cheesecake

I cooked mine in a flat bottomed silicon muffin pan. I undercooked the brownies and took them out of the oven when they had just set up some. Then I let them cool slightly and pressed the brownie down to give as much room for cheesecake on top. I had to watch the cheesecake cook time carefully. Mine took between 20-25 minutes to cook. Take care not to overcook.

Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Prepare brownies according to package directions, baking in springform pan instead of regular cake pan. Brownies should bake in 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and reset temperature to 325ºF. Set brownie crust aside to cool slightly while you prepare filling.
To make filling, whirl cottage cheese, sour cream and cream cheese in a blender until perfectly smooth. Scrape out mixture into a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, sift together sugar, cocoa and flour.
Gradually add sugar mixture to cream-cheese mixture and beat on medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add melted chocolate and beat again, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat just until eggs are incorporated into batter.
Before pouring batter over crust, lightly grease sides of pan. This will help prevent cheesecake from cracking as it cools. Pour batter over brownie crust and smooth top.
Place on middle oven rack and bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Cake will be puffed up and center will jiggle slightly when pan is shaken.
Turn off oven, open oven door halfway, and leave cake in oven to cool for 1 hour. Remove from oven, run knife around edge of pan to loosen cake from sides, and cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
To serve, remove sides of pan, slice thinly (it’s rich!), and serve with fresh raspberries and chocolate drizzle, if desired

I whipped cream with powdered sugar and a tablespoon of Gran Marnier and piped that on top. I drizzled chocolate sauce on the plate and topped the whipped cream with grated chocolate and served with raspberries.