This recipe came about after a discussion with Adrian, a friend and former coworker of Tod’s. He’d had a bad experience with a too-blue blue cheese cheesecake, but we agreed that if you toned it down, blue cheese might be a good enhancement for a cheesecake. And it is.
I started my experiment with the Three Cities of Spain cheesecake recipe from Gourmet and embellished it with blue cheese and dried cranberries. I considered walnuts on top, but they were too polarizing. There are still improvements to be made; Jeremy discovered how difficult it is to cut throught he cranberries (they bored tunnels into the cake). Next time I make this, I will create a sauce of dried cranberies to serve on the side.
Like most cheesecakes, this one needs a good long time to chill. Starting the night before is a good idea.
Blue Cheese Cheesecake
serves 10-12
crust
15 McVities digestive biscuits (~140 grams)
6 Tblsp butter, melted
1/4 c sugar
pinch salt
Crush the digestive biscuits (or graham crackers). Mix with the sugar and salt. Add the melted butter, working through with fingers. Press into the bottom of a well-buttered springform pan.
cake
750 gr cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c sugar
12-20 dried cranberries
Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Arrange the dried cranberries over the crumb crust so that each finished slice will get a berry. Pour the cheese mixture over the crust.
Bake at 180/350 for about 45 minutes. The cake will be done around the edges, but wobbly in the middle. Remove from oven and top with:
topping
400 gr sour cream
2-3 Tblsp mild blue cheese (danablue works well)
1 Tblsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c dried cranberries
Cream the blue cheese, then stir together with the sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Drop by spoonsful around the edge of the cake, spreading towards the middle. Sprinkle with dried cranberries. Bake for another 10 - 15 minutes.
Allow cake to cool to room temperature, running a knife around the edge to release it from the sides, then refrigerate for 6 hours in the pan. Remove pan when the cake is completely set. (If you take the pan apart before the topping sets, it will run down your arm and burn you. Please learn from my mistake.)
The cake is even better the next day, if there is any left.
Posted by kuri at January 26, 2006 09:04 AMOK, and for those living in a cranberry-impaired country at the moment (yes: those exist)… Do you think something like blueberry would do? Go plain?
Posted by: dr Dave on January 26, 2006 10:15 AMThe cranberries imparted a nice tartness to contrast with the cheese. Blueberries are sweeter but still might work. I’d orginally imagined walnuts as part of this, but was dissuaded. Still, I think they’d be worth a try.
Posted by: Kristen on January 26, 2006 12:41 PMThis blue cheese cheesecake sounds much more palatable than the one I tried. My first, and so far only, foray in to such a cheesecake happened many years out on a lonely highway in Australia. The only foodie place I found out there was a cheesecake and being a lover of blue cheese, usually, I could not resist the temptation to select it from their menu. Oh what a choice though. It was disturbing. To this day it still disturbeds me. That said, Kristen’s recipe entices me and so I will venture forth and try again. Thank you Kristen for releasing the bonds of my past experience!
Adrian
b/w Maple pecan is another good one to try.
