Mascarpone Cheesecake with Vanilla Almond Crust
I derived this cheesecake from one I saw on a food show one time. This recipe is so moist and so melt-in-your-mouth that at a dinner party Gregg and I hosted with four other couples, when dessert was served and everyone took a bite, there was a collective silence, then a moan of appreciation. Those friends still talk about that dinner party.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Lightly toast the almonds. Place them in a shallow frying pan and cook, stirring and shifting often, until they start to toast. (This will smell really good, and when you start to smell it, they’re just about done.)
- Squeeze the lemon. Seed the vanilla beans.
- Wrap a 9-inch springform pan tightly with foil.
- Grind the cookies in the food processor. Measure out 2/3 cup.
- Grind the almonds in the food processor. Add the 2/3 cup cookie crumbs, the sugar, and the butter.
- Press the crust mixture into the bottom only of the pan.
- Bake until the crust is set, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Reduce the oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the cheeses until fluffy. Add the sugar. Add the lemon juice and vanilla bean seeds. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix well.
- Pour into the springform pan. Place the pan in a large roasting pan and set it in the oven.
- Pour hot water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up the springform pan.
- Bake until the middle is just jiggly, about 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, remove from roasting pan, and chill in refrigerator until cold, about 8 hours.
Nutrition
Notes
Don’t throw out the vanilla bean shells. I place them in a container with sugar; this makes wonderful vanilla sugar that you can use for all sorts of things, from flavoring your morning coffee to boosting up your white cake recipe.
I serve this completely plain. It needs no accompaniment. But, if you like, take a pint of strawberries and remove the tops. Place them in a bowl and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over them. Using a fork, crush the strawberries. Stir to distribute the sugar and cover the bowl. Place in refrigerator and let chill along with the cheesecake. Give the sauce a quick stir and pour a spoonful over each slice as you serve it.
You will need a food processor, a mixer, a 9-inch springform pan, and a large roasting pan.
Good to know that we both like Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys. my first crushes was Scott Baio and Shaun…