Sunday, May 13, 2007

OLD PEOPLE’S CHEESECAKE (BUTTERSCOTCH CHEESECAKE)

INGREDIENTS

Crust:
1 cup vanilla wafers (or shortbread)
2 tbsp of flour
2 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsp of butter, melted

Filling:
12 oz bag of Butterscotch chips
1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
16 oz of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (the good stuff—no imitation!)

Topping:
Use either 8 oz of homemade caramel sauce or 8 oz of store-brought caramel sauce, warmed or find your favorite 8oz. bag of caramel/chocolate candies and chop them up to go with the caramel topping (w/nuts if preferred).


PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a spring form pan (9 inch).

To make the crust: In a bowl, combine cookie crumbs, flour, and sugar, and stir in butter till blended completely. Press crust over bottom of buttered spring form pan and 1/4 of way up sides. Bake for 15 minutes, then set pan aside to cool.

To make the filling: Melt butterscotch chips in glass bowl, with heavy cream, in 30-second increments in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Beat brown sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat till smooth (make sure not to over mix). Add eggs one at a time, stirring for 20 seconds after each addition. Then add sour cream, flour, and vanilla extract, beating only till incorporated. Add butterscotch mixture, beating on low speed till blended.

Wrap aluminum foil around bottom and sides of spring form pan, until watertight, before putting cheesecake mixture in. Pour mixture into spring form pan evenly, smoothing the top. Bake cake in water bath (I use an aluminum roasting pan fit for a large turkey, that can be bought from any supermarket) for 1 hour.

Remove cheesecake from water bath. Turn oven off and leave cake in for another hour with oven door closed. Then remove cake from oven and place on rack to cool to room temperature. Cover cake with foil and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to serve: Drizzle half the caramel sauce over cheesecake. Then sprinkle chopped caramel/chocolate candies over the caramel sauce. Then drizzle the rest of the caramel sauce over the cake. Transfer cake to serving plate and serve. Enjoy!

THE STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE
This recipe came from my dear friend Kathy DeCristoforo. She embarked on a quest for the perfect cheesecake recipes in preparation for her younger sister’s wedding. Her cheesecakes were so well received that by the time I made my way to the desserts, the only cheesecake left was the butterscotch. Now, I’m not a butterscotch fan. My life experience says that only senior citizens seem to have affection for this flavor. So I tried it and YUMMY is the only way to describe it. Silky smooth, not too heavy or dense. It’s really one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever eaten.

So I guess this type of cheesecake is the exception to the butterscotch rule just as my thin as a rail brother-in-law’s golfing hobby is the exception to my belief that golf is a fat boy’s game.


CHEF’S NOTES
Cheesecake baking is truly is an art, so be sure to read and follow the preparation instructions exactly. You will not regret the extra effort one single bite!

DIETER’S INFORMATION
Come on, it’s cheesecake. Not an everyday food. Full of fat and sugar. Make this for a party/dinner/event so you don’t have a whole cake to tempt you for a week.

No comments: