Week 48 - Cherry Cheesecake
Week 47 I chose a recipe from the 1967 book "Betty Crocker's Hostess Cookbook". Typically the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is dedicated to making things like pie, cookies and candy, so I wanted to do something a little different to break things up. I decided on the recipe for cherry cheesecake because we were expecting guests and it made many servings and it was something I had never tried to make before.
To start, I mixed cinnamon and nutmeg with graham cracker crumbs and some sugar and lined a greased springform pan with the mixture.
Sugar, spices and graham cracker crumbs
The springform pan lined with the crust mixture.
The batter was comprised of two parts. The first consists of the egg yolks, sugar, cream cheese, sour cream and vanilla. The other portion was whipped egg whites which were then gently folded together, to keep the batter light and fluffy. Then the batter placed in the pan and baked for 70 minutes. Once cooked, the oven was turned off and the cake left in the oven for an additonal hour.
The cheese batter
The cheese batter and egg whites
The cheesecake, ready for baking
I know that cheesecakes can fall or crack, so I was a bit worried about how mine would turn out, but once out of the oven it looked perfect. The original recipe also had a portion for making your own cherry topping. However, in the interest of saving time, I decided to used a canned filling. I found one from Duncan Hines that seemed to have the fewest ingredients and claimed to be "more like homemade", so I gave that a try.
The final cheesecake, out of the oven and cooled.
Canned cherry pie filling
The finished cheesecake was light and fluffy. It wasn't as dense and creamy as some cheesecakes can be, but I thought it tasted great. The canned cherry pie filling worked out great and tasted very close to homemade cherry pie filling I've made in the past so I would definitely recommend it if you don't have time to make from scratch.
The final cheesecake
A slice of cheesecake
The cheesecake was enough for the two of us and our 6 guests, plus a few slices left over. I would try this again, but perhaps try different topping flavors for something different.
Cookbook: "Betty Crocker's Hostess Cookbook", from 1967
Recipe: Cherry Cheesecake
Difficulty: Moderately easy. Does take some time to complete
Alterations: I used canned pie filling rather than the filling from the recipe
Results: Very good
Make Again:Yes
