The children's eyes swayed with the knife as I made the cut, carefully down the centre, as evenly as possible. There was a plea for an equal starting time. Then spoons flashed as each half was carefully consumed to be sure all was fair. The bone of contention was a small bowl filled with leftover almond cheesecake. I was in a great hurry when I made it. Fortunately there was a leftover almond nut crust in my freezer waiting for these kinds of moments.
Sometimes in suprisingly diverse places, one can find amaretti biscuits made only with almonds. The majority of commercial amaretti biscuits contain some kind of wheat flour, which makes it off limits for those with gluten allergies. I found my wheat free stuff in the drugstore food aisle! The texture is slightly different if it contains wheat. Different. Not worse, or bad.
The amaretti biscuits are crushed in a food processor, and mixed with ground almonds. When I am feeling ambitious, I roast the almonds, cool them, and then grind them. Usually, I just grind them and throw them in because they are roasted when I bake the crust anyway. The ratio of biscuits to nuts is whatever convenient amounts add to the total for a recipe of graham cracker crumbs and I subtract some sugar. Okay, to tell the truth, I just eyeball everything.
It's important to put just enough melted butter to thinly coat the crumbs, because with too little, the crust is too crumbly. Too much, and the crust is too hard. The crumb proportions are not that important, but keep in mind what you want the final product to taste like! I am also looking for a specific textural quality. When mixed long enough, the crumbs sort of stick together, but fall apart easily, until you pack them into the bottom of the pan.
Adjust your ingredients according to how you plan the crust to contrast with the filling. There are a number of variables: the size of the crumbs, the type of nut, the sweetness you need, etc. These all change the feel of the crust when you push your fork through the cheesecake. You want that crust to crumble into the filling as you bite and chew so everything mixes together to delight the tongue. Remember that texture is as important as taste.
The other very important thing to remember is to cool the crust completely. Absolutely at room temperature or colder. Otherwise, it gets soggy. Many times, I have eaten a good cheesecake ruined by a soggy crust! A well cooled crust often withstands freezing even when the cheesecake has been cooked on top of it. If you plan to do that though, add a little extra butter for insurance. To me, a good crust makes the difference in whether a cheesecake is perceived as merely good, or amazing!
Onto the lighter cheesecake. I don't really believe in "low fat" recipes, per se. What I want is something that tastes natural, without the feeling that a substitution has been effected, just to lower the fat content. This means I NEVER use light cream cheese for baking. I use it for other things, but often you will see that a recipe tells you specifically not to use the stuff. This is because light cream cheese has a much higher water content, and again, this affects the texture of baking.
Well, I actually want to talk about a no-bake cheesecake today, so I will leave the rest of that discussion for another time. I still don't use light cream cheese though. Instead, I add less cream cheese, and fold it into a custard base and I do use gelatin to make sure it all comes to a firm enough texture to cut. Sacrilege! Some people do not believe in using gelatin to stiffen a mousse or cheesecake, but then, I never claimed to be a purist.
This is how I do it: I make a custard with 1% milk, sugar, eggs, flavouring and a little cornstarch to thicken it. Standard. I beat the cream cheese until it is fluffy, and mix it into the custard. I can either soften the gelatin and cook it into the custard, or mix it in with the cream cheese. If I have time, I will let it cool and watch it carefully, so it doesn't set too fast. Then I take whipping cream, whipped, and fold it all together and pour into the crust to properly set.
When I am in a rush, I simply whip the cream and fold into the warm cream cheese mixture. The result is a runny mess. Pour into the cooled crust (if newly baked, stick in freezer while doing the filling). Then get on with the rest of your day.
You get a slightly denser version, which still has a relatively light feel on the tongue. I actually like it this way. The extra filling went into a bowl, which the children ate after breakfast.
I served the cheesecake with raspberry sauce, but it also would have been good with chocolate sauce with amaretto liqueur.
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