A great make ahead dessert that has a wonderful presentation! I use a third less fat cream cheese and light sour cream to cut down on some of the fat and calories. Keep in mind this dessert requires at least 6 hours of chilling time.   I do not use a water bath as most cheesecake recipes call for. This is done to prevent cracking and some say a more evenly cooked cheesecake and moist. I have tried both and really don’t see a big difference in the flavor and there is no gaurantee that the cake will not crack. Most of the time mine do not crack and if it does I really don’t mind it because it tastes great anyway. If you want to use the waterbath you will need put foil over the entire outside of the cheesecake pan, use a very large cake pan that can accomodate your cheesecake pan and add water a 1/4 of the way up the cheesecake pan.
Ingredients
Crust
1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons of butter melted
Cheesecake
3 – 8 oz. packages of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup of light sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
Raspberry Glaze
2 tablespoons of raspberry liqueur
1 teaspoon of unflavored Knox gelatine
1/2 cup of seedless raspberry preserves
2 tablespoons of a sweet or semi sweet Champagne or sparkling wine – try Rosa Regale Sparkling Dolce Red Wine Banfi Vintage 2007
Technique
Make crust by adding graham crumbs to an 8 – 9 inch spring form pan. Melt butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Add butter to pan and mix well using your hands. Using your hands press mixture to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
In a large bowl, blend cream cheese and sugar using a mixer. Mix until graininess is gone. Add sour cream, eggs, vanilla and flour and mix well. Pour dough into the pan and evenly spread dough. Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let set until it is at room temperature. Place in fridge, covered with plastic wrap for at least 4 hours.
Cheese cake should have chilled for at least two hours, before making glaze. In a medium sized bowl add liqueur and gelatin and stir. Set aside to allow gelatin to soften. This does not take long, so move on to the next step immediately. In a small pot add preserves and Champagne or sparkling wine and simmer over medium heat whisking until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk into gelatine mixture. Pour over cheesecake. Return to fridge and chill for at least two hours.
Suggested Beverage
The same Champagne or sparkling wine that you used to make the glaze. If you are up for something different, try a beer, such as, a Belgian Framboise Beer by Lindemans, which is very sweet. There are other types of raspberry beers that aren’t as sweet that would go well too. Or try my Raspberry Martini.
Leave a Reply