Let’s Eat: Celebrate a cheesecake dessert for the holidays

By Heidi Sutton

Delicious desserts certainly are the cornerstones of the holiday season. This is a time of year to indulge a little more, with cookies in break rooms at places of employment and cakes on the tables at family gatherings. 

Decadent and mouth-watering, cheesecake is a dessert table staple. Everyone has a favorite cheesecake variety, and bakeries fill their display cases with plain or fruit-topped cheesecake offerings. Although making a cheesecake is a labor of love, the results often are well worth the effort.

The recipe for Amaretti Cheesecake from “Cooking Light: Dinner’s Ready” (Oxmoor House) utilizes a slow cooker to help make this cheesecake perfection while the recipe for Marled Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies from “Chocolate” (Love Food) mixes cheesecake with brownies to make a delicious creation the kids will love.

Amaretti Cheesecake

YIELD: Makes 10 servings

INGREDIENTS: 

     For the crust:

2⁄3 cup amaretti cookie crumbs (about 16 cookies)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

Cooking spray

     For the filling:

2 (8-ounce) blocks fat-free cream cheese, softened and divided

1 (8-ounce) block 1⁄3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

2⁄3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

3⁄4 teaspoon almond extract

Raspberries, optional

DIRECTIONS:

To prepare crust, combine the first three ingredients, tossing with a fork until moist and crumbly. Gently press mixture into the bottom of a 7-inch springform pan coating with cooking spray.

To prepare filling, beat 1 block fat-free cream cheese and 1⁄3-less-fat cream cheese with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add remaining 1 block fat-free cream cheese; beat until blended. Add 2⁄3 cup sugar and flour; beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in almond extract. Pour batter over crust in pan.

Pour 1 cup hot water into bottom of a 5-quart slow cooker. Place a rack in slow cooker (rack should be taller than water level). Place pan on rack. Place several layers of paper towels over slow cooker insert. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, or until center of cheesecake barely moves when pan is touched. Remove lid from slow cooker; turn off heat, and run a knife around outside edge. Let cheesecake stand in slow cooker 1 hour. remove cheesecake from slow cooker. Cool to room temperature in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 6 hours. Cut into wedges. Garnish with raspberries, if desired.

Marled Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

YIELD: Makes 12 servings

INGREDIENTS: 

3⁄4 cup unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 cup superfine sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake mix

1cup ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons superfine sugar

1 egg beaten

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease an 11 x 7-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, remove from the heat, and stir in the unsweetened cocoa and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, then add the flour, and stir to mix evenly. Pour into the prepared pan.

For the cheesecake mix, beat together the ricotta, sugar and egg, then drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture over the chocolate mixture. Use a metal spatula to swirl the two mixtures tightly together.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until just firm to the touch. Cool in the pan, then cut into bars or squares.