Gloria Kobrin's Cream Cheese Cake: The Creamiest Yet Lightest Cheese Cake That You Will Ever Eat!

 

Cream Cheese Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ tablespoons sweet butter-softened
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (9+ crackers)
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 12 ounces cream cheese-softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• pinch of cream of tartar
• optional: 2 pints strawberries/blueberries
• 2/3 cup melted seedless strawberry, blackberry jam

EQUIPMENT

• 8 inch spring form pan*
• electric blender
• large mixing bowl
• electric beater
• pan large enough to hold 1 inch water and spring form pan
• small saucepan
• long spatula

DIRECTIONS

1. Spread butter thickly around sides of baking pan. Sprinkle sides of pan with crumbs by holding the pan at an angle and rotating it to receive crumbs. Pat remaining crumbs on the bottom of pan. Freeze pan for 30 minutes.
2. Separate eggs. Place egg whites in large mixing bowl and yolks in a small dish.
3. Pour cream into saucepan and heat over low flame.
4. While cream is heating, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg yolks, salt and vanilla in electric blender until mixture is smooth. Carefully touch cream with the tip of your finger. It should be very hot. Beat scalded cream into cream cheese mixture very slowly. Mixture will be thin.
5. Preheat oven to: 300 F.
6. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add pinch of cream of tartar and beat until stiff not dry. Fold whites into batter gently but thoroughly. Pour into spring form pan.
7. Pour enough boiling water (about 4 cups) in baking pan to reach one inch up the sides. Place filled spring form pan in water and bake 1 ½ hours. Cool 30 minutes before refrigerating for six hours.
8. Remove cake from refrigerator. Take a long spatula and press around the outside of the pan to loosen the cake from the sides; then push up the bottom of the pan and remove cake from ring. If a lot of crumbs remain on the pan instead of on the cake you can pat some extra graham crackers crumbs around it and no one will know. The bottom of the cake pan is another story. I find it easier to freeze the cake and remove the bottom of the pan after the cake has frozen. You can also leave the bottom on and cover it with berries.
9. Freezing advice: Freeze the cheese cake before you wrap it and you will preserve the smoothness of the cake. Conversely, remove the wrapping before you defrost it so you don’t put any dents in the cake.
10. To serve: You can serve the cheese cake plain and it will be delicious. To make a fabulous presentation cover it with strawberries or blueberries or a combination of both. Glaze the berries with melted seedless strawberry or blackberry jam and allow the jam to drip down the sides of the cake. It is stupendous!

* You can use a 9 inch spring form pan. The cake will be flatter but just as good.

A Prelude to Cheesecake: A Shavuot Luncheon Menu from Kosher Cookbook

Watermelon Gazpacho*
Fried Fish with tartar Sauce*
Pasta with Cippolini Onions, Broccoli, & Parmesan
Mango, Jicama, Corn Salad*
Cream Cheese Cake*
Poppyseed Cake*
Fruit

*recipes available on the Kosher Cookbook App for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch*

It's all leading up to Chocolate Cheesecake! Another Shavuot Luncheon menu from Kosher Cookbook

Cream of Tomato Soup*
Baked Poached Salmon with Green Sauce*
Avocado Salad with Jicama,Tomatoes & Olives
Spinach & Mozzarella Manicotti
Chocolate Cheesecake*
Mandelbrodt*
Fruit

*Recipes available on the Kosher Cookbook App for iPhone*

Tired of all that heavy stuff? A lovely Halibut salad for your Shavuot lunch!

 

Halibut Salad

A very mild fish salad that gets its kick from cocktail sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 ½ pounds center cut fresh halibut*
• 1 large onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 black peppercorns
• 2 large lemons
• 4 large stalks of celery
• 1 cup or more mayonnaise
• 2 12 ounce bottles cocktail sauce

* Ask your fishmonger to remove the bone and tie the pieces together.

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse fish. Place it in pan and cover ¾ of fish with water.
2. Peel and quarter onion. Add onion, bay leaf and peppercorns to water. Bring water to a boil and quickly reduce it to a simmer. You should barely see the water moving and there should be no odor at all. Poach fish until it is completely opaque. If the halibut is very thick, you should turn it over once during poaching. (Don’t worry about breaking the fish, you are going to flake it anyway.)
3. Remove poached halibut from liquid and place in mixing bowl. Peel off skin. Squeeze lemon juice from both lemons over freshly poached fish. Let it cool completely before flaking it.
4. Wash celery vigorously. Make sure to scrape out all the dirt in the veins. Dry celery stalks and dice. You should have 3-4 cups of celery. Mix diced celery with the flaked halibut. Add one cup of mayonnaise. Mix well. The salad should hold together on a fork. Add more mayonnaise if you prefer the salad to be more moist.
5. Line serving platter with lettuce leaves. Mound the halibut salad in the center. Decorate platter with sliced peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. Serve cocktail sauce and crackers on the side.