Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

As you may have understood by now, I'm all about Easter chocolate.

However, like I tend to be sad when I see a stuffed animal on the ground, I also get kind of sad when I abandon all other types of dessert in favor of chocolate.

Seriously, how sad is this?

The only issue I have regarding desserts during the Easter season is that I already have a perpetual I-ate-too-much-chocolate stomach ache. Is there a dessert that could actually make you forget all that?

Are you thinking of a layered carrot cake with clouds of cream cheese frosting?

I'm not.

To counter all that sweetness in the chocolate, I actually think Easter might just be the time to break out that tangy, only slightly sweet dessert. Something fresh, bright, almost palate-cleansing (to get ready for the next round of chocolate, although I won't put it that way).

In comes lemon ricotta cheesecake.

Although real cream cheese has finally landed this side of the Ocean and the prospect of a "true" cheesecake is finally something we can bounce off the walls over, cheesecake sometimes proves to be a little heavy after all that Easter chocolate feasting.

Now ricotta cheesecake, on the other hand, is an altogether different story... For those of you used to putting ricotta in dishes involving tomatoes or eggplants only, read on!

Ricotta cheesecake is an interesting thing; it looks pretty dense when you glance at it. But when you have a bite, it's definitely not. Very creamy, sure, but also light and tangy. Adding a hint of cinnamon gives it a little depth, and the lemon makes it nearly refreshing.

The lovers of super-sweet desserts might not love this one as much, but if you're afraid of something like that, here's a solution. Add a layer of salted butter caramel. Yeah, you can thank me later.

Ricotta Cheesecake

serves 6 to 8

3 TB crushed cookies, like French petit beurre

2 lb. ricotta, room temperature

6 eggs, room temperature

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 TB grated lemon zest

juice of one medium lemon

1/2 TS salt

1 TS vanilla extract

1/2 TS cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C, placing rack in the lower third of the oven.

Butter a springform pan and dust with cookie crumbs on the bottom and sides of the pan.

Mix all remaining ingredients together until batter is smooth. Pour into pan and bake 1 hour and 45 minutes, until cheesecake is golden but center is still wobbly.

Cool in pan and keep at room temperature until serving. 

Un Cheesecake fait toujours du Bien

C'est l'été, ou du moins ça l'était chez moi aux Etats-Unis avant que je ne rentre en France. Lors d'un été normal, donc, il fait chaud--et qui dit chaud dit envie de fraîcheur. Rien de tel qu'une salade de concombres croquants, ou de nectarines bien juteuses qu'on mange toute la journée.

Et puis, il y a le cheesecake. Eh non, ce n'est pas un plat particulièrement léger, mais c'est tellement bon qu'à vrai dire on s'en fiche complètement. Le plus drôle, c'est qu'il semblerait que la fascination pour ce fameux cheesecake soit quasiment plus grande en France qu'aux Etats-Unis. Le cheesecake est partout, et il a ses groupies, qui ne rateraient ses apparitions dans divers restaurants et cafés pour rien.

Si on se penche sur le cheesecake version américaine, on voit que la discussion devient tout de suite beaucoup plus technique. Des articles, non, des livres entiers sont consacrés à l'art du cheesecake parfait. Mais c'est quoi, d'abord, un cheesecake parfait?

Pour la majorité des individus, un bon cheesecake est soyeux sans être trop lourd en bouche. Pas de grumeaux, une crust croquante mais pas trop non plus, et bien evidemment pas de gélatine. Ah, ça, non: le cheesecake sans cuisson, ce n'est pas un cheesecake. Ensuite se pose la question du mode de cuisson--certains privilégient le bain marie et la cuisson lente, pour que le cheesecake ne se "casse" pas. Effectivement, on obtient souvent de petites cassures sur le dessus du cheesecake lorsque le mélange au cream cheese cuit. Mais après tout, si on le sert à l'assiette et on ne compte pas vendre son cheesecake entier, une cassure ne fait de mal à personne.

Du coup, dans la famille on préfère l'option de cuisson simple, sans bain marie. Tout de suite, c'est beaucoup plus facile: on mélange, on fait cuire, on laisse reposer et on met au frais. Quelques heures plus tard, la magie a operé, et voilà: un cheesecake au gout parfait, prêt à être dégusté. J'irais même jusqu'à dire que je dois mon teint rosé et frais à cette recette familiale qui fait mon bonheur depuis mon plus jeune âge. Enfin bon, on me répondra que ce sont plutôt les carottes...mais je n'en crois rien.

Essayez-le, vous verrez bien: même par un été à 20 degrés, le cheesecake rend beau et heureux. Servez-le tout seul, ou alors accompagné d'un coulis rapide de fraises (des fraises équetées et coupées, cuites avec du jus de citron et un peu de sucre, puis mixées quelques secondes).

Un dernier petit conseil: ça peut sembler un peu fatigant d'aller chercher du vrai Philadelphia Cream Cheese, et tentant de remplacer par autre chose--mauvaise idée! La quantité d'eau dans les St Moret, fromages blanc et autres Kiri ne correspond pas au cream cheese et vous pourrez dire au revoir à la consistance crémeuse de ce "vrai de vrai" cheesecake.

Cheesecake

pour 6 à 8 personnes 

160g graham crackers finement écrasés ou mixés (utiliser des sablés ou speculoos si besoin)
150g beurre ramolli
240g sucre en poudre
680g Philadelphia cream cheese, ramolli
2 cuillères à cafe extrait de vanille liquide
3 oeufs
120g crème fraîche


Mélanger les gâteaux, le beurre, et 50g de sucre dans un bol. Repartir le mélange dans un moule à charnière de 20cm de diamètre préalablement beurré. Bien faire remonter le mélange sur les côtés du moule et presser pour le garder en place.

Battre le cream cheese pour l'aérer. Ajouter le sucre restant et la vanille. Ajouter les oeufs un à un puis la crème fraîche.

Verser la préparation dans le moule et cuire une heure dans un four préchauffé à 180 degrés. Eteindre le four, entrouvrir la porte et y laisser le cheesecake pendant une heure. Réfrigérer au moins 4 heures avant de démouler et de servir.

Classic No-Fuss Cheesecake

I'm not afraid to admit that I have one too many recipe clippings.

See, I bought this great little set of drawers from Ikea a year ago: red metal, European letter-sized drawers. They were itnitally meant to house electronic cords, scrap paper, and obviously classwork and readings. Once I filled it up, I was so happy about having two drawers left empty. For once, I managed not to clutter something up!

One week later: "Hey, this is a great place to store recipe clippings!"

And yet another week later...no more empty drawers. But that's what drawers are for, so I don't mind all that much. The only problem is, I don't manage to get around to a tenth of the recipes I store in there. I imagine I am definitely not alone in this situation, but I do have a strange habit. I collect cheesecake recipes, imagining that I will try every single one. The tweaks about water baths and that special way of pouring the filling into the pan? My drawer covers that. New York style, classic style, old-fashioned, you name it. I am the cheesecake queen... without a cheesecake. All those recipes are great, but I haven't tried a single one of them.

Hand me the family cheesecake recipe, however, and I'll go right ahead. No water baths here, or cheesecakes so high you feel like Alice in Wonderland. This is the simple, back-of-the-box version--and it's great. Sure, it might crack here or there, but as long as you're not selling it whole, does anyone really mind? The creaminess is there and so is the cheesecake taste we all like to remember (unless you dislike that particular taste, which unfortunately does exist). It may seem a little heavy for Summer temperatures, or at least that's what I thought, but it isn't. Add a little fresh strawberry or raspberry coulis, and you've got yourself the perfect dessert to go with a fresh seasonal salad.

Although, maybe after all that cheesecake, you won't be tempted to do any drawer cleaning--those unused recipes will have to wait.

PS: Expect to see a French post on the same topic in a week or so!

Classic Cheesecake

serves approximately 8 to 10

1 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs

1/3 c. butter, softened

1 1/4 c. granulated sugar

3 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened

2 TS vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 c. sour cream

Thoroughly blend first two ingredients and 1/4 c. sugar. Press mixture firmly against the bottom and 2.5 inches up sides of an 8-in springform pan.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add remaining 1 c. sugar and vanilla extract. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Blend in sour cream.

Spread in prepared pan. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven, 60 to 70 minutes or until firm. Turn off oven. Leaving door slightly ajar, allow cheesecake to remain in oven 1 hour. Cool in pan.

Chill 4 hours or overnight.

Never too late for Pumpkin Desserts

I'm sure a lot of people forget all about pumpkin puree between December and the following October. Why deal with pumpkins and pumpkin pie spice when that's nearly all you've been baking with for the Fall months? I'll admit, it is easy to forget about things like that. You get all caught up in the moment when you start baking Christmas goodies, then Valentine's Day, and then...it's springtime and the warmth of spices doesn't have the same appeal anymore.

Well, I suggest that everyone include pumpkin into their desserts all year long. Seriously, everyone goes on and on about how they want to have a healthier lifestyle in the first months of the year (and then, once the Superbowl comes along, that seems to disappear). Pumpkin is extremely good for you, and can replace a large part of the butter or oil you usually use in muffins. Convinced yet?

Although this isn't healthy per se, I had another chance to delight in my Pumpkin Cheesecake which you can find right here. I had way too much filling last time around, so I baked crust-less cheesecakes and froze them up. Tea with my friend Claire was the perfect opportunity to bring them back out; I quickly baked up some new crusts and put the cheesecakes together. Unfortunately, I sort of forgot that the wetness of the filling is what makes the crust nice and soft--putting them together at the last minute ensured that my crust was everything but soft. OK, maybe a knife was involved to eat these mini-cheesecakes, but it's nothing a few hours in the fridge couldn't have fixed.

And the cute heart shape? Perfect for a Valentine's Day dessert that doesn't involve an overload of chocolate. Unless, of course, you decide to indulge in chocolate as a side dish: my kind of healthy lifestyle.

By the way, you might notice something has changed around here: I added all my post labels on the side for easier access. Happy browsing!

Thanksgiving in Paris: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Everyone knows what Thanksgiving in the United States is all about: food, food, food, and...more food. Then comes post-Thanksgiving: Christmas shopping, Christmas decorations, and pretty much getting hyped up about the upcoming holiday season. It seems like all of a sudden, bakers forget pumpkin even existed. After the end of November, it's all about gingerbread and the like.

Paris doesn't exactly follow the same pattern, for obvious reasons. Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here--strangely, some Americans actually wonder why--and nobody goes as holiday-crazy as they do back in the States. That's why celebrating Thanksgiving is always a little strange, especially when your boyfriend is French and doesn't really get the point of it, especially when it's only a week after your birthday and you've only just finished celebrating.

In any case, I wanted to do a little something for the 26th. The truth is, I got a little jealous from hearing and reading about everyone baking endlessly in preparation for Thanksgiving. Even if I wasn't really going to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I wanted to bake a dessert. I didn't even have much thinking to do: I had a never-been-used mini springform pan that seemed perfectly adapted to a perfectly sounding dessert: pumpkin cheesecake.

Oh, it was risky: I'll admit that I've never made a cheesecake before. I'm planning on it, sure, but I keep saving it for a moment when I have friends coming over. But then, when they do, I figure that I shouldn't try a cheesecake just right now... and it all starts over. A pumpkin cheesecake seemed a little different, and I told myself I couldn't be taking that much of a risk with a pint-sized version of the real thing.



Creamy, nicely spiced, it was everything a Thanksgiving dessert should be. Even if you only eat it on the day after.

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake
Serves 12
adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Note: I divided the recipe by 3 to fit into my mini-pan and ended up having way too much filling...I made crustless heart-shaped mini cheesecakes and froze them--recipes coming later!
Crust
8 whole graham crackers, broken into 1-inch pieces (or 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs)
6 TB unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 TB sugar
1 TS pumpkin pie spice
1/2 TS ground cinnamon

Filling
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 TS ground cinnamon
1 TS pumpkin pie spice
1/2 TS salt
1 1/2 lbs. cream cheese (I used the French "nature à tartiner"), cut into chunks and softened
(I pressed it between paper towels to remove excess moisture, since the French nature à tartiner has more moisture than cream cheese)
1 TB fresh lemon juice
1 TB vanilla extract
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup heavy cream
Crust:

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325°F.

Process graham crackers in a food processor to fine, even crumbs, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle melted butter, sugar, and spices over crumbs and pulse to incorporate. Sprinkle the mixture into a 9-in. springform pan. Press the crumbs firmly into an even layer using the bottom of a measuring cup.

Bake the crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, 10 to 15 mins.

Let crust cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Once cool, wrap outside with 2 sheets of foil and set in a large roasting pan. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.

Filling:

Spread pumpkin puree on a triple layer of paper towels. Press additional layers of paper towels on top of puree until they are saturated.

Whisk the sugar, spices, and salt together in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until smooth, 1 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

Beat in half of the sugar mixture until incorporated. Beat in the remaining sugar mixture. Beat in the dried pumpkin, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated. Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined.Beat in the heavy cream until incorporated.

Brush the inside of the springform pan with melted butter. Carefully pour filling into the pan. Set the roasting pan, with the cheesecake, on the oven rack and pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it reaches about halfway up the sides.

Bake cheesecake until a thermometer inserted in the center registers 150 degrees, about 1 1/2 hours (a lot less if you're scaling the recipe down, watch out!)

Let cheesecake cool in the roasting pan for 45 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool until barely warm, running a knife around the edge of the cake every hour or so. Wrap the pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours.

To unmold the cheesecake, wrap a wet, hot towel around the cake pan and let sit for 1 minute. Remove the sides of the pan and carefully slide the cake onto a cake platter.

Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.