This month's Daring Bakers Challenge was a little more my speed, in that it was actually a dessert this time. The challenge recipe was for a cheesecake, but considerable latitude was given in terms of style. With spring in full swing, I wanted to do something bright and fresh. Although I'm no enemy to chocolate, with warmer days upon us, I just wasn't in the mood for some kind of turtle something or other.
I have always heard of meyer lemons and seen them used in various recipes, but I had never actually tried them myself. Knowing them to be sweeter than conventional lemons, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take them out for a spin. And, a citrus approach seemed just the kind of thing I had in mind. Luckily, my local specialty market had some in stock, so I grabbed some and headed home to begin. I settled on the idea of a meyer lemon cheesecake with a rosemary shortbread crust. To me, rosemary is a lovely addition for spring, and I just happened to have some growing in my windowsill.
I thought that doing some candied lemons would give me something to use as a decoration on top, while also adding a different flavor dimension and contrasting texture to the soft cheesecake.
Candied Lemon Slices Ingredients
2 meyer lemons
2 cups sugar
Directions Slice the lemons into 1/8" - 1/4" slices. Combine 2 cups water with 2 cups sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and let the lemon slices cool in the syrup. Next, on to the crust. I love shortbread crusts, and I thought that adding the rosemary would give it a little extra interest - something unexpected. I used a basic shortbread recipe, then just added minced rosemary and some of the zest from the meyer lemons. Meyer Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Crust Preheat over to 400°F. In a stand mixer with an electric mixer, beat mix sugar and butter until fluffy. Stir in flour until mixture is crumbly in appearance. Add rosemary and zest. Gather dough into a ball. Press firmly into a spring form pan, lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Bake crust for about 15-20 minutes or until golden and firm. Set aside until cool. Because I was using small-sized springform pan, I had some dough left over from the crust. Refusing to let the extra dough go to waste (we are in a recession after all!), I formed the dough into small cookies. I baked them in the same 400 F oven for 14 minutes. They were golden and buttery and crisp and fantastic. They would make wonderful tea cookies. I had made a vegan cheesecake in the past, and so I went with my standard approach and just added some of the juice of the meyer lemons. Cheesecake Filling Ingredients Directions Reduce oven to 350 F. Place tofu and cream cheese in the food processor. Blend for 1 minute, then add sugar. Process until smooth, 3-5 minutes. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk in cornstarch until no lumps remain. Pour mixture into the food processor and process until very smooth. Pour into prepared crust. Set pan in large casserole pan and fill with hot water to the half-way point of the springform pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Turn off oven, and allow cake to sit in cooling oven for 1 hour. Allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours, then refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
Ingredients
Directions
Once cooled, I decorated the top of the cheesecake with the candied lemon slices, and springs of sugared rosemary. The cheesecake had a bright flavor and nice texture. The meyer lemons did give it that perfect mix of sweet and tangy-sour. I do think I should have cooked it just a few minutes longer -- the very center of the cake never completely set. It tasted very good, but it made the cutting and presentation a little messier than I would have liked. And, despite my best tinfoil-wrapping efforts, a little water did still seep into my springform pan and get the crust wet. Amazingly it crisped up well after cooling and sitting in the fridge overnight. The crust was my favorite part. I definitely think those lemon-rosemary shortbread cookies will make a future appearance in my kitchen.
Our Daring Bakers hostesses have requested the that we include the following message:
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
