Cherry Cheesecake redux (filed under Serendipity)

Okay, if you are reading this post, then you just found out that I am not perfect.  Alright you may not have just found that out. You learned I burned the heck out of my gingersnap cookie crust for the cherry cheesecake http://wp.me/p17DQY-2Q  and were curious to see how I recovered from such a blunder. Well, voila!!!

Like a trooper, I went back into the kitchen and started over, sort of.  There was no need to make another cheesecake because the filling came out perfectly sweet, creamy, and smooth.  The only problem was the cajun crust that could have been used as a doorstop. Okay so I gathered my ramekins and dessert dishes and tried to recover this cheesecake.

I sprayed non-stick cooking spray into 6-7 oz ramekins. Then I crumbled 2-3 vanilla wafer cookies into the ramekins and baked the wafer cookie crust in a 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes just until the crust was set.

Once the crust was set, I used an ice cream scooper to place 2 scoops of the Cherry Cheesecake in the ramekins and almost forgot about the previous cheesecake incarnation because these looked so darn cute.

If  something like this happens to you, and you don’t even want to look at the oven, you don’t have to.  I also crumbled some wafer cookies into ice cream dishes and scooped the cheesecake on top of that.  That was just as cute and yummy.  One could also layer a bit of cheesecake with ice cream in a dessert dish like a trifle or parfait.

Gingersnap Cherry Cheesecake (filed under Mishap)

Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker’s man.

Bake me a cheesecake as fast as you can?

 Umm, no! Not happening. This cheesecake does take some time to come together.  The actual bake time is 40-45 minutes, but the cake then has to chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. If you want to serve the cheesecake for an ocassion, you can bake the cheesecake, chill it overnight, and prepare the fruit topping the next day before serving.

 The prep. time isn’t so bad unless, like me, you only have a dinky mini food processor to pulverize those extremely hard gingersnap cookies. If you do not have a powerful food processor, expect to spend some time trying to grind those babies down.  I may have burnt out my little processor’s motor.  I was a little discouraged when I kept getting gingersnap pebbles instead of the finer ground up bits I was aiming for, but I didn’t give up.   Next time I’ll just look for softer cookies.

This was my first attempt at making a cheesecake.  While I am not a patient person (instant gratification is where it’s at), I really wanted to see if I could create a delicious and beautiful cheesecake. (Spoiler Alert!) I couldn’t! Kind of.

Well, I wasn’t completely satisfied with this cheesecake. I do not lay the blame at the recipe’s feet.  Do recipes have feet? Anyway the gingersnap cookie crust burned. Like “the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire” burned. I think the problem was my oven may have been hotter than 350 degrees. I have to admit, I took the cocker spaniels for a walk and didn’t constantly open up the oven door and check on the cake like I usually would. I have to find a middle ground between obssessively checking the oven and leaving the apt for 20 minutes and ignoring the large hot appliance in the kitchen.  But, because I am a BGIT ( baking goddess in training), I of course rallied and found an alternative way to serve the cheesecake (because I just could not scrape off that damned burnt crust). [click link for alternative serving options]  http://wp.me/p17DQY-38

Recipe from Real Simple Magazine, November 2010 issue

Serves 12| Hands-On Time: 20m | Total Time: 5hr (includes chilling)

Ingredients

• 3 cups ground gingersnap cookies (about 60 cookies)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 3 8-ounce bars cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups sour cream (separated)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (separated)
• 1/2 cup cherry preserves

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F. In a medium bowl, combine the ground gingersnaps and butter. Using a straight-sided dry measuring cup, press the mixture into the bottom and 2 inches up the side of a 9-inch springform pan.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and 1 cup of the sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in ½ cup of the sour cream and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla.
3. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake until just set, 40 to 45 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the remaining 1 ½ cups of sour cream, ¼ cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Spread over the hot cheesecake and bake until set, 3 to 5 minutes more. Let cool in the pan, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake before unmolding.
5. Spread the preserves over the cheesecake before serving.

 

Nutritional Information

• Per Serving
• Calories 675
• Fat  39g
• Sat Fat  23g
• Cholesterol  142mg
• Sodium  489mg
• Protein  8g
• Carbohydrate  70g
• Sugar  49g
• Fiber  2g
• Iron  3mg
• Calcium  67mg