cheesecake | Adventures in Thyme

Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

May 6, 2015 by Dan Leave a Comment

Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

Have you ever experienced a cheesecake craving? The kind where you just want to sit with it in your lap and eat the whole thing while you watch some perfectly wretched B movie? Okay, maybe that’s just me then, but today’s recipe is a cheesecake cookie that not only satisfies in its petite serving but is also fun to share.

Ingredients

1 cup fresh Blueberries
3/4 cup Water
1 1/2 cups all purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 cup mild, soft, white Goat Cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 large Egg
1 to 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar

In a small sauce pan, combine 1 cup fresh blueberries, 3/4 cup water and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat, stirring periodically, until the berries split and then the mixture reduces by half. Strain. This should yield between 1/2 and 2/3 cup of blueberry syrup. Let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a bowl combine 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sift together to combine and remove any lumps.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, combine the butter and goat cheese. Beat until combined and smooth. Add the sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until well combined. Add the dry ingredients, a bit at a time on low speed, beat until combined.

Take one cup of your batter and put in a small bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the blueberry syrup (be sure to retain 2 to 3 tablespoons of the syrup for your frosting) and 1/2 cup flour. Beat by hand until combined. Pour the batter back into your mixing bowl and gently fold together with the remaining batter to give swirls. Don’t overmix – you want it to be “swirly”.

Using a small ice cream scoop , drop onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the bottom edges are golden grown. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes then place on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.

Make your frosting by combining your reserved blueberry juice and powdered sugar. Start by adding 1 cup of powdered sugar to the syrup, whisk together. If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar a little at a time until you get a consistency that you can drizzle over the cookies.

Drizzle the frosting over the cookies and serve. These would be good with coffee, milk or tea. Watching a B movie is optional.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Lemon Cheesecake

December 18, 2014 by Dan Leave a Comment

Lemon Cheesecake

This week we bring you an ancient dish that is as drool worthy today, as it has been through the ages – the very decadent cheesecake! While meandering through the fresh fruit at our local grocers some Meyer Lemons caught our attention, and somehow screamed “Cheesecake!” from their display. Who are we to argue with citrus?! So, whether it was serendipity, fruit fairies, or strung out holiday shoppers, please find below our inspired lemon cheese cake recipe:

Crust

13 oz. Gingersnap Cookies
1/2 cup Butter (1 stick) cut into pieces
1/2 cup Sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons Sugar for the pan

Filling

3/4 cup Sugar
16 oz. soft white Goat Cheese (Chevre)
1/2 Nutmeg grated (yes, 1/2 of a nutmeg, I grated mine with a micro plain)
3 tablespoons all purpose Flour
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 cup goat milk
6 egg yolks
zest of one large lemon
juice of 1/2 large lemon
6 egg whites

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a 9-10 inch springform pan and dust with sugar (like you normally would flour a pan for baking).

Process the gingersnaps in a food processor until they are a course powder. Add in the butter and sugar and process until well blended. Press the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool while you finish your filling.

Combine the sugar, cheese, vanilla, nutmeg, flour, corn starch and goat milk in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine and break up the cheese into very small pieces. Add egg yolks one at a time and stir to blend until smooth. Set aside.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Be sure the bowl and beater are clean and dry or the eggs won’t beat properly.

Add the lemon zest and lemon juice to your filling and stir well. Gently fold 1/4 to 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into your filling mixture, by hand with a rubber spatula. Add another 1/4 to 1/3 and fold in, then fold in the remaining egg whites. This should make a relatively light batter. Be sure to fold in the egg whites, do not beat or mix.

Pour your filling into your springform pan and place on the center rack of your oven. Bake for approximately an hour or until the batter is mostly set. It may still be a little jiggly in the middle. Remove from the oven and gently run a butter knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it from the edge of the pan.

Cool and serve with whipped cream and a slice of lemon.

Pumpkin Goat-Cheesecake

December 4, 2013 by Dan Leave a Comment

Pumpkin Cheesecake

For those willing to broaden their culinary horizon, we present to you a cheesecake made from goat cheese. Indeed, some turn up their noses at the thought of goat cheese, but that earthy tang so often found in goat milk products is not so pronounced when blended into this delicious cheesecake. Oh, and we have gingersnaps, did we mention that?

Here is the recipe we served at Thanksgiving.

Crust

10 oz. gingersnap cookies (I like the ones from World Market)
2-4 T softened butter
2 or 3 T sugar for pan

Filling

3/4 cup sugar
12 ounces mild, soft, white goat cheese (10 oz logs from Costco, 4 oz from the grocery store.)
1 t Vanilla extract
1/2 T cinnamon
1/2 T nutmeg
1/2 t ginger
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
4 egg yolks
6 egg whites

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a 9-10 inch spingform pan and dust with sugar (like you normally would flour a pan for baking).

Process the gingersnaps in a food processor until they are a course powder. Add in the butter and process until well blended. Press the mixture into the bottom of your springform pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool while you finish your filling.

Combine the sugar, cheese, vanilla, flour, pumpkin, spices and egg yolks in a large mixing bowl and blend together until smooth. Set aside.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Be sure the bowl and beater are clean and dry or the eggs won’t beat properly.

Gently fold 1/4 to 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into your filling mixture, by hand with a rubber spatula. Add another 1/4 to 1/3 and fold in, then fold in the remaining egg whites. This should make a relatively light batter. Be sure to fold in the egg whites, do not beat or mix.

Pour your filling into your springform pan and place on the center rack of your oven. Bake for approximately an hour or until the batter is mostly set. It will still be a little jiggly in the middle. Remove from the oven and gently run a butter knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it from the edge of the pan.

Cool and serve with whipped cream.

Try it out and let us know how you did, or better yet, if you were able to trick your family into trying something new.