Who loves cheesecake?!
To start, I want to note this can apply to any kind of cheesecake. Also keep in mind that all temps are in Fahrenheit and are based for a mid-western United States altitude, for those of you who have altitude baking variances to concern yourselves with.
A Very Simple Crust.
Get a 9" spring-form pan, you need 1/4 cup of butter (melted) and about 2 cups of crushed up crust item of your choice, in this case oreo cookies (with or without the cream filling your choice). Be sure to crush them up well, you don't want them powdered, but you don't want big chunks either. You want a "breadcrumb" kind of 'powdering;. In a bowl, dump the crushed cookies and butter together, and mix them up. Then press into the bottom of your pan, making sure you get a good even coverage, and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
Now you can use almost anything for a good crust. Just make sure to follow those simple steps and keep in mind the most common ingredient is often graham crackers.
Anyways, once the timer goes off pull the pan out of the oven, and set it aside to cool.
The next step is forming the cheesecake, I'll give you the original base recipe and then tell you how to add the other deliciousness (such as chocolate) after:
For this you need:
16oz Mascarpone Cheese (room temperature)
16oz Cream Cheese (room temperature)
1 1/4 cups Sugar
5 whole eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I sometimes use 2, just for zing.)
Addendum:
8-12oz of non-sweetened baker's white chocolate
An explanation! Read the following in Morgan Freeman's voice:
A lot of people will often ask 'Why room temperature?' Well, this is important, so I should explain; if the cheeses and eggs are cold, it makes them much harder to mix them together, and for them to incorporate with each other properly. This leads to a lumpy, grainy cheesecake, or one that becomes tough or rubbery. It is quite important to allow the cream cheese, the mascarpone, and the eggs to sit out on the counter until room temperature prior to making.
Getting on with it!
In a large bowl, mix your cream cheese and sugar together. You can use a food processor if you like, but doing it by hand can often let you eyeball consistency and smoothness easier. Either way mix them until they're nice and smooth.
Add in the vanilla extract, and then add the eggs one at a time, mixing them until they are fully incorporated, before adding the next. You want to add the eggs slowly because you are building a cheesecake here, not mixing cement Once all 5 eggs are added, and everything is smoothly incorporated, add in the mascarpone cheese.
A note on cheese, also read as Morgan Freeman: Mascarpone is a light, fluffy, delicious cheese. it's sweeter and less dense than Cream Cheese, and it's a little fragile.
So...
When you incorporate the mascarpone, don't beat the hell out of it. Just mix it enough to thoroughly incorporate it into a nice, smooth batter, but don't overdo it. This is another reason why I prefer to hand mix my cheesecake batter as opposed to using an electric mixer or food processor, so I can control how much beating is going on much more precisely. An over-beaten cheesecake turns out kinda rubbery and dense. We want light and creamy goodness.
Interjection! Different flavors you ask?
But let's say you wanted a different flavor within your cheesecake. Let's say it is white chocolate. It is during this step that you would cut down the amount of mascarpone for an almost equivalent amount of white chocolate. During this step you would preferably use a double boiler to melt down the chocolate and then slowly stir it in with the batter to get a nice even mix in with the rest of the cheesecake. My favorite mix is often 16oz of creamcheese, and an even mix of mascarpone and white chocolate. Never go with more than a 4oz/12oz mix of marscarpone and chocolate though. In my experience it can throw the consistency and flavor of the entire dish off. **Experiment at your own risk. **
Once all your filling is mixed up, turn your attention back to the pan and the crust that's in it.
You need 2 LARGE sheets of aluminum foil, big enough to cover the entire bottom and sides of your springform pan, on the OUTSIDE. Use 2 layers, just to be safe. I always recommend to people to keep a roll of the extra-wide foil around just for cheesecake purposes. Anyway, very securely cover the outside bottom and sides of your springform pan with the foil. You are wanting it so that nothing can get in or out through the tiny gaps in the springform.
Once your pan is foiled, pour in your delicious cheesecake filling on top of the Oreo crust you've made.
Now. Here you may think I'm crazy but: find a large roasting pan that your foil covered springform pan will fit neatly inside of, with a little room all around it. Why? Because one of the secrets to great cheesecake is absolutely EVEN heat when you cook it, so we're baking it in a water bath! So preheat your oven to 325 degrees, Place the foil-lined springform into the roasting pan, and carry it over to the oven once the oven is heated.
Open the oven, place the roasting pan on a middle or lower middle rack, and then fill up a pitcher with nice warm water. Pour that water into the roasting pan till it comes about halfway up the sides of your foil covered springform. Close the oven door, and bake.
Bake cheesecake for 55 minutes at 325 degrees.
Then turn off the oven. DO NOT remove the cheesecake at this time!!! This is important. Leave the cheesecake in the hot oven in its water bath for another 30-35 minutes. This will continue to finish cooking the cheesecake on a very gentle heat, keeping it light and delicious!
When the cheesecake is done baking, it will seem a bit loose still. it will ripple in the center if jiggled.. that's perfectly fine.
But wait! There's more!
When you turn off the oven and before you let the cheesecake finish cooking in your water bath. It is possible to add a layer of dark chocolate to the cheesecake. Get about 8oz of bakers dark chocolate and once again introduce it to your double boiler, add 1/2 cup and 2 teaspoons of heavy cream and a 1/4 cup of sugar, stirring evenly. When you're ready to let the cheesecake finish baking gently apply this to the surface of your cheesecake and then return to the oven. If done right, the rest of the process should allow not only the cheesecake to finish baking but for the dark chocolate to bond with the cheesecake as an extra layer.
So you've baked it for 55 minutes. Added your layer and let it cool for another 30-35 minutes. Once that is done take the whole apparatus out of the oven, remove the cheesecake from the water bath, and let it cool to room temperature on the counter-top (preferably on a wire rack) before refrigerating. The last step, refrigerate overnight and the next day release the spring form carefully and remove your tasty and deliciously light and creamy cheesecake for consumption!
Toppings You Say?!
Now you could just buy a squeezebottle of Hersheys (they also have a specific bottled kind you can use for ice cream) and drizzle it over the top of the cheesecake or you can break out that awesome double boiler and make your own (again using baker's milk chocolate, any amount you want)! Drizzling another layer of chocolate over the cheesecake and adding some chocolate sprinkles gives it a pretty appearance. Unless your roommate adds chocolate Cool Whip to the top and makes your masterpiece look like sugary death.
"But Jaded I don't want to add chocolate on top of chocolate! I like berries and shit!"
Well here's a very simple compote. What's a compote you ask? Well Morgan Freeman tells us: A compote is a dessert dressing typically made of fruit done up in a sauce or syrup.
So for a simple compote you want to get about 3 cups of your favorite fresh fruit. If you decide, hey I want to do a medley! then you'll want to split that 3 cups any way you see fit Blueberries and raspberries? apples and pears? peaches and tangerines? bananas and pineapple? Go nuts! But in these instances use 1/2 cup of each.
Once you have your fresh fruit you're going to cut that up and toss it into a pan with 3 tablespoons (tbsp for you recipe people) of orange juice. Turn on your stove and bring it to a medium heat until it gets nice and bubbly. Once you get the little bubbles you want to use a spoon to separate and mash the fruit as much as you can. You're going to do this the next 12-15 minutes, eyeballing it the whole time, and mashing the fruit until you start to get a nice even consistency - and this may require more or less mashing depending on the fruit you use and how well you've cut it up prior.
Experimenters! It is during this mashing and stirring process where you can even try out those spices that often sit on your shelf until they're a hard brick in the bottom of their jars! Ginger! Cinnamon! Bring the heat with some ground chilies! (Ground chilies not recommended for most fruit.) Let your inner Emeril out and Bam it up! You typically want to stick to around the 1/4 teaspoon (tsp) to 1 teaspoon range depending on the spice.
So after about 15 minutes you can take the pan off the stove and move your compote to a jar or container to cool. You want to let it counter cool for about 10 minutes, and then cool in the fridge overnight. Now you have a yummy tasty alternative to a chocolate layer, and any left over compote also works well on waffles, french toast, and ice cream.
Bon Appetit!
