Monday, June 6, 2011

Lemon Chalet Cheesecake

 Lemon Chalet Cheesecake
This is the perfect summertime cheesecake. It is not heavy and melts in your mouth…Really, it does. I recently served this at a brunch; although, I think it would be very versatile for spring and summer from dinner parties to bridal brunches.

I also brought some small samples to the gym where I workout. I like to have a test market before I share a recipe. The most important part is watching people take the first bite, especially if they do not realize you are watching for a reaction. When you first bite into this cheesecake it is sweet and creamy and then you get an aftershock of tart, but pleasing lemon. (I really like complex tastes.) Watching the people only validated my own tasting experience. They took a bite, smiled, said “Good”, chewed, looked shocked, and said “Wow, really good;” which made my workout…and my day, very pleasant.

What you will need:

Crust Ingredients:
  • 1 box coarsely ground Lemon Chalet Girl Scout Cookies
  • -remove filling and reserve for later
  • 3 Tbs. melted butter
Topping:
  • ½ can sweetened condensed milk
  • ¼ c. raspberry jam
  • ¼ lemon Jello pudding
  • 1 Tbs. cinnamon sugar
  • 2 Tbs. lemon squeeze
  • fresh raspberries (optional)
Cheesecake Filling Ingredients:
  • 3 (8oz.) bricks Philadelphia fat free cream cheese
  • 1 (8oz.) bricks Philadelphia low fat cream cheese
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1/8 c. lemon cookie filling (half of the extracted filling)
  • ¼ c. lemon Jello pudding powder mix
  • ½ c. sour cream
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp. lemon squeeze
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • ½ of 1 zested lemon
  • 1 lemon squeezed
Place a sheet cake pan on middle rack of oven and preheat oven 475 F.

Wrap exterior of spring form pan with foil. Combine coarsely ground Lemon Chalet Girl Scout Cookies (minus the lemon filling) and butter. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of 9” round spring form pan.

Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, ½ of reserved lemon cookie filling, lemon pudding powder and sour cream. Beat with electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time while stirring slowly. Stir in lemon squeeze and vanilla. Reserve 1/2 cup of batter, and pour the rest of the batter into the prepared crust.

Return the 1/2 cup of batter to the mixing bowl and add lemon zest, lemon cookie filling and a lemon squeezed. Mix until well blended. Pour layer over batter in spring form pan. Swirl down into batter.  

Carefully add water to sheet cake pan. Fill about ¾ of the way full. You want to create a water bath to help prevent your cheesecake from cracking. His create a smooth texture by keeping in the moisture.

Place spring form pan in water bath. Bake 12 minutes at 475 F, then turn down to 350 F and cook for about 50 minutes. Time will vary depending on oven. Remove. Cool. Chill in refrigerator over night.

Stir together raspberry jam, sweetened condensed milk, lemon pudding powder mix, cinnamon sugar, and lemon squeeze. Whip it together well to make it more liquid; this way it drizzles better. Take a spoon full of topping allow the first glob to fall back into the batch. When it begins to fall from the spoon in a slender stream, drizzle back and forth over the individual piece. Garnish with a fresh raspberry if desired.

 
Serves: 12
About 286 calories per serving plain
About 344 calories per serving with topping

I had a video prepared to go with this recipe, but for the past hour have been unable to make it successfully load to the blog.  It is nearly 2:00 AM and frankly, I am tired of messing with it. I doubt you  will have any difficulties following the above instructions. 

Enjoy!


No comments:

Post a Comment