If you're like me, you love cheesecake. For a long time I made them like this:
Mulberries from my back yard!
But then discovered this recipe for Basque Burnt Cheesecake (it's not really burnt, but close) from sweetpaul.com.
Full disclosure, I haven't made this with cream cheese that I've made. My local Aldi has a pretty good version of cream cheese at 79 cents for 8 oz., cheaper than I can make it, and about 1/3 the price of "that other" cream cheese. And a warning, this may also be the least healthy dessert ever.
It’s a doddle to make (and there's no separate crust), but you do need a 9 or 10″ springform pan and parchment paper. Also a mixer, although you could probably use a whisk if you have a patient arm and don’t mind all that to-ing and fro-ing.
Put the oven on 400 degrees mark Fahrenheit or 200 decimal degrees. Cut a piece of parchment paper bigger than the bottom of your pan, put it on the pan base, then attach the ring and tighten. Cut a strip a couple of inches taller than the ring, then line the ring with it. Hint: a little butter or oil on the outside of the strip will help it to stick to the ring and make filling the pan easier. Rub the insides of the paper with butter or oil so the batter (mostly) won’t stick:
Beat two pounds/one kilogram of cream cheese at room temperature with 1-3/4 cups sugar for five minutes, then add 1/4 tsp. salt and five eggs, beating them in one at a time. Keep on beating while slowly pouring in two cups of heavy cream, then 1/4 cup of flour. Scrape down the sides of your beating vessel with an implement and ensure that all is well incorporated. Pour into pan. Put pan in oven. Close oven door.
This is why you need the collar, it blows up like a Jarlsberg with too much Propionic:
At 45 minutes it’s almost there:
Keep going until you’re ascared it’s burnt, then take it out of the oven and let it cool completely. Don’t even think of taking the ring off until it’s entirely cool.
If it looks like a giant round sunken burnt turd, it’s perfect:
The crust is slightly denser than the rest, is caramelized and has a (just) slight bitterness from the baking, so it’s the perfect foil for the creamy, not too sweet interior. Serve it with whipped cream or just naturel. Try not to eat half of it in one day (as I did the first time I made it).
-Lance
