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Рецепт PAMA Chocolate Ganache Cheesecake Perfect for Valentine's Day
by Shari, The Saucy Gourmet

First thing I have to say, I GAINED 5 POUNDS JUST MAKING THIS CHEESECAKE!!!! I must admit, it was worth it and along the way, I discovered a new and very healthy snack, very high in antioxidant. I'll tell you about that in just a minute, but first the Cheesecake, incredible.

We have a friend whose birthday is on Valentine's Day. Last week her husband asked us to join them to celebrate by going out to dinner. Now, I have always made it a point to avoid restaurants on Valentine's Day. It is always too crowded, the servers are way too stressed and we always end up paying way more than we expect. I would much rather have a quite dinner at home. Since I had already planned our dinner for Sunday night, just the two of us (we had weekend guest last year for Valentine's Day) I invited them over to celebrate the night before. Dinner was an easy choice. We would begin the evening with Yukon Gold Vichyssoise with Crème Fraîche Potato Salad and Leek Vinaigrette. For our main course, Rack of Lamb with Herb Crust, Asparagus tossed with Lemon Vinaigrette and a side of Brown Rice and homemade French Bread. This is one of my favorite menus and it was perfect for our guest since I they had mentioned over the past couple of years that they like lamb and vichyssoise. I was stumped on the dessert. Of course, it had to be chocolate, I mean, it is Valentine's Day Weekend! I scoured the Internet, but nothing was catching my attention. Then I noticed the bottle of PAMA sample I had been sent last week. I went to their website, but nothing there attracted my attention. So off to the Internet I went to try to find a chocolate, pomegranate dessert. I found a Cheesecake, perfect, I love Cheesecake! Thanks Jessica from How Sweet It Is!

The best part, I had most of the ingredients except the Oreos, so I sent my pirate son off to the store to pilfer me some. OK, I really did not send him, he is busy at FSU Law School, this is a picture from his 21st Birthday Party. We had a Pirate Party and sent him on a scavenger hunt around town; you should have seen some of the looks he and his entourage received:-) He was a good sport, but was not to happy that his last clue was on the bottom of our very chilly pool.

Sorry, I got off track, back to the cheesecake.....I made the crust last night, 25 Oreos went to the food processor with the melted butter, and at least 10 went into my tummy, with milk, of course! I put it in the fridge and watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.

This morning after taking the puppies on a very chilly walk on the beach, I felt the need to turn the oven on, so I started the cake.

I blended all the cake ingredients with my KitchenAid, and then poured them over the chilled crust. Into the oven it went for 45 minutes. I could not resist licking the beaters, oh boy how I love cheesecake! While the cheesecake was in the oven, I did a little research on how to keep a cheesecake from cracking or falling. One site suggested using an instant read thermometer since over baking will cause the cake to crack. They said, when the internal temperature reaches 150, the cheesecake is done. The only problem, my thermometer left a pretty big hole in the center of the cake, no worries, it was getting another layer, but I probably will not try that method again. On lots of other sites, they suggested leaving the cake in the oven after it is baked. You are to turn the oven off, leave the door open and let it cool for 30 minutes. This helps the cake to adjust slowly to the temperature in your kitchen, cooling it too quickly causes the cake to fall and split. This sounded like a great idea since my oven was 350 and the temperature in our house was 68! And it worked perfectly.

While the cake was cooling in the oven with the door open and the kitchen was snuggly warm, I cut into my pomegranates to see how they looked, they had been in the fridge for a couple of weeks. To my amazement, they were perfect. If you want to see an easy way to remove the arils, check out my Pomegranate Mixed Green Salad post.

I assembled all the ingredients for the ganache and heated the water in my double boiler. Don't fret if you do not have a double boiler, you can improvise one with two sauce pans or a large pot of boiling water and a Pyrex bowl. Just make sure your upper pan does not touch the bottom of the under pan, since the result could be a counterproductive direct heat and scorch the chocolate.

When the water in my bottom pan was at a low boil, I reduced the heat to medium and put in the chocolate chips.

I stirred them constantly until they were melted, and then reduce the heat to low.

Then added the PAMA and the heavy cream.

Stirring with my silicone whisk until all ingredients were incorporated.

I poured it over my cheesecake, smoothed it out and popped it in the fridge for 2 hours. Of course, I had to lick the spoon, the ganache is so good!

After about 2 hours, I whipped the heavy cream with the sugar and the vanilla.

And spread the wonderful whipped cream over the cake using my off set spatula. Of course I had to lick the beater and the spatula. I love sweetened whipped cream. Back in the fridge went the cake for about another 2 hours.

I prepared our dinner and baked some bread. I have french bread down now, I will have to post about it soon. Our friends arrived around 6:00, we had a great time and the cheesecake was a hit. What a fun day of cooking and then sharing my creations with great friends. Happy Birthday Phyllis!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about my new snack. Pomegranate arils and mini dark chocolate chips, WHAT A COMBO!

PAMA Chocolate Ganache Cheesecake

Oreo Crust:

25 Oreo

Preheat oven to 350.

To make Oreo Crust, pulse Oreos in a food processor into crumbs. With processor running pour melted butter into crumbs, continue running until well combined. Press a spring form pan. Refrigerate while making cheesecake layer.

To make cheesecake, in an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar at medium speed until completely blended. Reduce speed to low and add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Continue mixing on low speed until just incorporated. Add in 2 tablespoons PAMA liqueur and mix on low speed. Add in flour and mix until combined. Pour into springform pan and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes, or edges are until golden brown. When finished baking, turn off oven and leave the cake in the oven with door open for 30 minutes. Remove and allow to finish cooling on counter while preparing the ganache.

To make chocolate ganache, add chocolate chips to a double boiler, over a low simmer, stir chips until melted, remove from heat. Add heavy cream and PAMA liqueur, stir until smooth. Pour over cooled cake. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

To make the whipped cream, add heavy cream, sugar and vanilla to electric mixer. Beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Spread on top of cheesecake. Refrigerate for another 2 hours.

Sprinkle pomegranate arils on top of cheesecake for garnish.