60 min + 95 min | 16 | dessert | created by dorie sreenspan
Cheesecakes are a staple dessert, which creates an instant smile on your face! Dorie Greenspan takes this classic dessert to the next level by including spiced cookies in the crust and filling to give it even more of a holiday flare. Adapted from BAKING CHEZ MOI, (c) 2014 by Dorie Greenspan. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Crust
1. Butter a 23-25 cm springform pan. The pan should be at 7 cm high. Wrap the bottom of the pan in a double thickness of aluminum foil: Make a cross with two pieces of foil, put the pan in the center and wrap. You want the foil to go up as high and to be as tight as possible—it’s your defense against water seeping into the pan. Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil.
Break up the cookies, toss them (in batches) into a food processor or blender and whir until they’re crumbed and crushed. (Alternatively, put the cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.) You need 175 gram crumbs for the crust; save the remaining crumbs for the cake and decoration.
Mix the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl, pour over the melted butter and, using a fork or your fingertips, toss everything together until uniformly moist. Turn the mixture into the pan and press it as evenly as you can over the base and up the sides. Ideally, the crumbs should go halfway up the sides or even a little higher, but the crust needn’t be perfect. Freeze the crust for at least 15 minutes.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Put the springform pan on the lined baking sheet. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then put it on a rack to cool while you make the filling. Lower the oven temperature to 160 degrees.
Filling
1. Put a kettle of water on to boil and have a roasting pan large enough to hold the springform pan at hand.
Working in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, or until it is completely smooth. Add the sugar and salt and mix for another 4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract, then add the eggs one by one, beating for a minute after each one goes in. As you’re working, stop frequently to scrape down the sides of the bowl and to make certain that whatever’s on the bottom of the bowl is getting mixed in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the cream and yogurt. When the batter is silky smooth, stir in the cookie crumbs (save 2 tablespoons for the decoration, if you’d like) and give the batter a few last turns with a flexible spatula.
Put the springform in the roasting pan and fill it with the batter. The batter will probably come up to the top of the pan; if you have any leftover, you can bake it in a small buttered soufflé mold or custard cup, alongside the cake or in another baking pan that you’ll fill with water. Slide the roasting pan into the oven and pour enough hot water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform.
Set a timer for 90 minutes; resist the temptation to open the oven, and don’t worry about rotating the pan unless your oven’s heat is very uneven. The cheesecake will rise above the rim of the pan—that’s fine. The top will brown and it might crack—also fine. When the timer goes off, turn off the oven, prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon and leave the cake to rest in its water bath for 1 hour more. (This is not a dessert for the impatient!)
2. Carefully lift the springform out of the roaster—no matter how tightly you’ve wrapped the cake, there’s bound to be hot water in the foil—remove the foil and transfer the cheesecake to a cooling rack and let come to room temperature.
Cover the cooled cake lightly and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours. Cheesecake should always be served very cold—it tastes much better that way—and it’s impossible to cut otherwise. (The cheesecake can be wrapped and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
Decoration
1. Working in a medium saucepan, stir the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and ginger together. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula. After about 5 minutes, when the mixture starts to bubble and foam and the berries pop, stir constantly until the jam thickens and your spatula leaves quickly disappearing tracks on the bottom of the pan. Scrape the jam into a heatproof bowl and stir in the raspberries. Allow the jam to cool for about 30 minutes before whirring it in a food processor (you can do this in two batches in a mini) or a blender – whirr until it’s only a tad chunky. Return the jam to the bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. (You can make the jam up to 3 days ahead and keep it refrigerated). If, after cooling, there’s excess liquid around the edges of the bowl, turn the jam into a sieve and stir it around so that the liquid drains. (Save the bit of liquid to stir into sparkling water.)
2. Run a table knife between the crust and the sides of the pan, then use a hairdryer to warm the sides of the springform (or wrap the sides of the pan in a warm, damp dish towel). Gingerly remove the sides of the pan.
Using a small offset spatula or a table knife, cover the top of the cake with jam. (If you have leftover jam, you’ll count yourself lucky in the morning.) Pipe a circle of whipped cream around the edge of the cake and then pipe two more concentric circles. Arrange the berries pointy end up on the jam, forming two circles of berries and filling the center circle with berries. If you’d like, lightly dust the cake with the remaining cookie crumbs.
If you’re not serving the cake immediately, return it to the refrigerator.
3. Serving: There are two good ways to slice the cake: you can use a long piece of dental floss—hold it taut by both ends and wiggle it down the cake. Or use a long, slim knife—run it under hot water, wipe it dry and cut; repeat the water-wipe ritual with each slice.
4. Storing: Well wrapped and kept away from foods with strong odors, the undecorated cheesecake can be refrigerated for about 3 days. It can also be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost, still wrapped, in the refrigerator overnight. Once decorated, the cake is best served within 4 hours.
