Bet you thought I forgot about the filling – nope, just need to retest the instructions –
Cheese Cake Pie
prepare and prebake the 8 or 9 inch Crumb Crust of your choice I frequently use the “least expensive” store brand of graham crackers, or choc chip or shortbread Often from the “clearance rack” because “dry” even “stale” is an asset. I do suggest that they be “not filled or frosted” but otherwise pretty much any flavor you like will do nicely the details – if you lost that link, click here
Or, you can certainly bake your own cookies to be used, but fresh baked cookies do not usually last long enough to dry out or get stale as needed for the crust
With cookies on hand, when I need to “channel my anger” in a positive way
out comes that rolling pin, plastic bread bag
DO NOT USE A ZIP LOCK –
once reduced to the proper size crumbs, stored until needed in my frugal cannisters (the plastic containers from dry things,
like dry roasted nuts, or rice) I do not recommend plastic pickle jars – they tend to keep the “scent” of vinegar
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling
the basics are almost always in the house – in fact along with what I need for a good chocolate pudding – I make a point of keeping the dessert ingredients “on hand”
If a dessert is going to be needed = then the ingredients come out of the frig while waiting for the coffee to brew.
Room Temperature is best – especially if like me, you choose to do the blending and mixing “by hand”
Whisk until smooth
8 oz Cream Cheese
6 oz Ricotta
For nuts, the “oily” kind seem two work best, Pecans, Walnuts
if you choose a dryer nut like Almonds, you may want to add a teaspoon of extract or oil to enhance the Almond.
Whisk separately
1 egg
1/3 c Honey
1 Tbl “thickener” (corn or potato starch, pastry flour, etc) (leave this out if you want chocolate and use cocoa powder)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Cinnamon* Powder (less with chocolate, more with citrus)
1 Tbl Vanilla Extract
when well whisked (you want it airy, so look for bubbles)
add OPTIONAL flavors:
1.5 tsp of Citrus powder.
*Cinnamon is an amazing spice – AND seems to always increase the “sweetness” of a dish without adding sugar or honey – as well as adding a depth of flavor to any dessert and yes, even to some things like spicy soups and chilli. just keep a light hand until you find the amount that most enhances your taste experience.
If you want a different flavor, use any of the “optionals”.
whisk into the mixture –
Combine/Whisk the Cheese and Flavor blends together until fully incorporated.
For chocolate, I like to lightly sift cocoa powder onto the crumb shell while it is cooling
Pour the mixture into the shell – bake at 350 F –
top should be just starting to brown at the edges, but a bit wobbly in the center
Remove and cool – most prefer to then chill for an hour or two before serving.
I say “warm” for the first night and chilled (stored in frig) for the second and third night.
Other Toppings, like berries – seem to like it when the critrus flavor is just hinted at – so reduce the citrus powder by to 1/3 to 1/2 tsp.
My personal favorite is a warm berry compote, over the warm pie, sometimes with a dollop of whip cream but often not.
Whatever flavor you choose, this is a rather rich dessert – so smaller slices are usually satisfying without really alarming the cardio doc.
Henry prefers things sweeter than I do, so sometime I will dust his with a bit of powdered sugar if the filling is a bit more tart than usual.
Depending on the planned flavor, I prefer to add chunky things like choc chips, or coarsely ground nuts to the cheese blend
On the other hand, if you want to have more than one flavor consider dividing hte filling and additing different swirls of flavor – then bake in cupcake sized shells or mini-pie pans – I like the mini pie pans because it is “two servings” – that can be frozen and then defrosted for the evening snack – thus making it easier to resist Cheese Cake Pie for breakfast
