A Tale of Two Cheesecakes

Last weekend was Jaimie’s 20th birthday. We planned to celebrate it in Des Moines with Ellen and Wendy’s families. In addition Jared and Pete had also just celebrated their 20th birthdays as well. Makes you wonder what was going on in September 1992, doesn't it?

Obviously the occasion called for for some good food. My niece Gail generously invited everyone over to her new digs and planned to make lasagna. The ending to the meal called for  celebratory  desserts so Wendy and I planned to make a dessert for each of the birthday buddies.

I have always felt that cheesecakes traveled well and are pretty foolproof if you have a couple of days lead time. I asked Jaimie (my daughter) and Jared (her boyfriend) about what kind of cheesecake they wanted. Below are the recipes for Peanut Butter Cheesecake Minis and Pomegranate Cheesecake with my variations noted. So my cooking experience with two cheesecakes was very opposite, one was the easiest of recipes while the other was the hardest of recipes. While reading through the following recipes try to guess which one made me feel like I was living in the age of foolishness.While making the cheesecakes the following quote sprang to mind. It certainly remains true;

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Peanut Butter Cheese Cake Minis

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen (Serves:  12 cakes)

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

12 bite-size peanut butter cups

I added a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter

Filling:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or almond extract

2 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a paper cupcake liner in each cup of a standard muffin pan.

To make crust, in a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Press crust into bottom of each muffin cup. Put 1 peanut butter cup into the center of each crust.

Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar, flour, and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon cream cheese mixture over peanut butter cups and graham cracker crusts. Bake until just set, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving. My last deviation was to decorate with chopped peanuts

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_29782_RECIPE-PRINT-FULL-PAGE-FORMATTER,00.html?oc=linkback

Pomegranate Cheesecake

I made two small deviations in this recipe, they are noted.

Yield: Makes 16 servings

Plan Ahead: the cheesecake needs to be chilled for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Filling:

• 4 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup sour cream (reduced fat worked great)
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
• 3/4 cup pomegranate seeds

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups sour cream (again, reduced fat worked great)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pomegranate Glaze:
• 1-16-ounce bottle pomegranate juice (usually found in the refrigerated section of juices)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (tutorial on de-seeding here)

Directions

1. For the crust: preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl beat butter on medium high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar. Beat until combined. Add egg; beat well. Beat in flour until combined. Divide dough in half. Cover one portion and set it aside.
2. Remove the sides from a 10-inch springform pan and set aside. Spread first portion of dough on just the bottom of ungreased springform pan base, spreading dough to edges. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely. When cool, attach sides of pan. Press chilled dough onto the sides of the sprinform pan to a height of 1-3/4 inches, using a thin metal spatula, like an offset spatula, to spread dough.
3. For the filling: reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the flour on low speed until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla all at once, beating on low speed just until combined. Mix in sour cream and lemon peel. Then, using a wooden spoon or a spatula, gently fold in pomegranate seeds (if you use the electric mixer for this part, the seeds will burst and stain the filling with the juice – and it won’t look as pretty). Here is where I first deviated, I left out the pomegranate seeds, thinking this would be hard to avoid if you don’t like the seeds.
4. Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Here I added a little of the pomegranate glaze (see step 6). I just pourted in a spiral on top and cut through to create a swirl pattern. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 65 minutes or until edges are puffed and center jiggles slightly when gently shaken. Remove from oven. (It doesn’t matter if the cheesecake cracks on top since it will have a sour cream topping.)
5. For the topping: stir together sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Spread sour cream mixture over top of baked cheesecake, spreading gently to the edges. Return to oven; bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen crust from sides of pan. Cool for 30 minutes more. Remove sides of pan; cool completely. Cover; chill 4 hours or overnight.
6. For pomegranate glaze: in a medium saucepan bring pomegranate juice to boiling; reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, until reduced to 1 cup (12 to 15 minutes). In a separate bowl, stir together brown sugar and cornstarch. Add to juice. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Transfer to a medium bowl; cover surface with clear plastic wrap. Cool to room temperature. Store, covered, in refrigerator until serving time.
7. When ready to serve, remove cheesecake and pomegranate glaze from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. Spoon some sauce over top of cheesecake; pile remaining pomegranate seeds in center of cheesecake. To serve, slice cheesecake. Pass remaining sauce.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/12/sugar-rush-6-pomegranate-cheesecake.html