The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
I have never met a cheesecake that I didn't like so my natural reaction to the choice of cheesecake for April's challenge was one of glee and delight. April was a super busy month for me but by planning ahead I scheduled to make my DB cheesecake for my Irish family's Easter dinner in Naples, FL. But woe is me for my Easter day was the definition of hectic. First thing in the morning I was the first to wake-up in my house and I went straight to the kitchen to start my Diabetic Key Lime Cheesecake with a Tropical Fruit Puree Topping. Thankfully Dad and I went shopping the night before so I could immediately get started on the crust as seen in the recipe below (my changes are in purple):
Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:
Crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs - I used Murray's Sugar Free Gingersnaps instead.
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar - Substituted with granulated Splenda.
1 tsp. vanilla extract - Omitted entirely.
3/4 cup ground Macadamia Nuts
Cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature - Used low-fat cream cheese.
1 cup / 210 g sugar - Substituted with granulated Splenda.
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice - Used key lime juice.
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean) - Omitted entirely.
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake - Omitted entirely.
**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.** - This is a variation from JennyBakes.com which I used. The only major difference is since I used real key limes from the Florida Keys, I needed about 12 of them for the zest and the juice because those buggers are tiny!
Fruit Puree Topping:
1 medium papaya, cubed & de-seeded
1 kiwi. quartered
2 tblsp of granulated Splenda
Put in a blender and pulse until the consistency is thick and nicely pink. Spread on top of cooled cheesecake.
Now that you know what I made and how I made it, I bet you want to see pictures of it right? As soon as I tossed my cheesecake in the fridge to firm up before the party it was shower time and off to find flowers before heading to the cemetery where my Grandfather, brother, and uncle are buried. It was important to me to make it there before the party so we all could chit-chat for a while and catch up, so in my mad dash I did not take pictures of the darn cheesecake before taking it to the party. So far as a Daring Baker, this has been my biggest misstep for as I arrived at my Uncle Jimmy's house, it was straight to the kitchen to help finish our gigantour Easter meal. The cheesecake went back into the fridge and stayed there until dessert. As my large family arrived I was caught up in my cousin's new baby Norah Jean, handing out chocolate bunnies to my younger cousins, and just catching up with everyone else. Taking cheesecake photos completely slipped my mind in the euphoria of family. Dessert came out around 4pm and everyone dove into any one of the 3 cakes we had. Suddenly it was 6pm and I had to start the 4 hour drive back up to Orlando to be at work on Monday. Saying my goodbyes, I turned to see if any remnants of the cheesecake were left to photograph and the aluminum dish was empty save some crumbs. Sigh...
I suppose this challenge was a success as my cheesecake was devoured by both my diabetic and non-diabetic family members. Thanks for providing a recipe I was able to share with my family. Next month I promise photos galore. Thanks for reading. :)
2 comments:
The fruit puree topping sounds just great!
It was obviously great if there were only crumbs!
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