Creamy Cheesecake with Pomegranate Topping

Creamy Cheesecake with Pomegranate Topping

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

Cool the heat from your chile-spiked dish with a slice of this rich cheesecake. Fresh pomegranates in the topping make this a beautiful, unforgettable dessert. Recipe courtesy of Pomegranates.org, where you’ll find many more recipes featuring pomegranates.

Ingredients

Crust: 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 9, 5 X 2.5 crackers)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened


Filling:

2 8-ounce containers whipped cream cheese
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest

Topping:

Seeds from 2 pomegranates
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a 9-1/2 inch springform pan, place crust ingredients and with fingers, blend well. Press mixture evenly over bottom and 3/4 inch up side of pan.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat filling ingredients on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until cheesecake is just set in center. (Cake will continue to set as it cools.) Transfer cake in pan to a rack and cool, about 3 hours.

Place juice in a 1-cup liquid measure and add water. Sprinkle gelatin over pomegranate juice and let stand 1 minute to soften gelatin. Remove the seeds from the pomegranates.

Transfer gelatin mixture to a small saucepan. Add sugar and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture into a bowl and set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water, stirring mixture gently until it is cold and slightly thickened but not set. Stir in pomegranate seeds and spoon topping onto chilled cheesecake. Chill cake until topping is set, about 1 hour. Remove side of pan and serve chilled.

Heat scale: mild

BBQ American Pie

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

First we’ll start off with good old American apple pie. This recipe can be whipped up at the last minute, as can most of these BBQ desserts, and gives you a delicious pie that tastes like Grandma made it. If the crust is charred along the edges, who cares? It’s barbecue, man. Oh yes, my grandma lived in Canada…hence the addition of cheese to the pie. Try it, you’ll love it.

Ingredients

Pie crust for a 2-crust pie (the packaged roll-up kind works just fine)

10 medium Granny Smith and/or Macoun apples, peeled, cored and sliced (a 50-50 mix is wonderful)
1/2 cube of unsalted butterBBQ Apple Pies
2 tablespoons Applejack brandy
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/3 teaspoons cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup of apple juice
1 cup brown sugar

3 ounces bleu cheese, crumbled
3 ounces aged white cheddar cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons cream to brush on pie crust

Instructions

Melt the butter in a large non-stick pan and add the apples; stir over medium heat for 2 minutes, then add the brandy, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, cornstarch mix, and brown sugar.
Stir well and cook until the apples are just beginning to soften, about 8-10 minutes.

Set aside and let the apple mixture cool to room temperature.

Line the bottom crust of your pie plate with one of the crusts, prick the crust with a fork, and add the filling. Sprinkle the cheddar and blue cheese on top of the filling and cover with the top pie crust.

Slit the crust in three places and crimp the edges of the top and bottom crusts together with a fork.  

Brush the top of the pie with the cream to help brown the crust.  Use an aluminum pie-crust-edge protector or small strips of aluminum foil to cover the edges of the pie. About ten minutes before pie is done, remove the covering to let edges brown evenly.  

Place the pie on indirect heat in a medium-hot barbecue (450 degrees F. or so) and cook for 45 minutes or until the surface of the pie is golden brown. Cool the pie and serve with ice cream (homemade is awesome).