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Monday, July 11, 2011

Cheesecake - Part 2

So now I had the butter, paneer, cream cheese ready, and I was all set to go.

The recipe called for a flour base, but that needed almond-meal that I was lazy to make, so I compromised and made a base from Digestive biscuits and butter (the easiest way ;)). I used about 90g of butter for 12 digestive biscuits, and this seemed to make the appropriate thickness in a 19cm pan (I measured it as the original recipe was for a 20cm springform pan).

In case of a flour base, it needs to be baked in a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees C for 15 mins. The biscuit base can apparently just be chilled (not baked), but I figured this out only later, so I baked that one anyway for about 10-12 mins till it browned up nicely.

For the filling:
300 g Paneer
170 g Cream cheese
(You can use 500g + 330g if you have a larger pan)
3 eggs                       (4 in original)
1 1/3 cup sugar         (I reduced to little less than 1 cup)
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp lemon rind
1/4 cup lemon juice (I added a bit of Lemoneez as I felt the juice I squeezed wasn't enough)
1 tbsp cornflour (mixed with same amt of water)

Put all the above in a mixie/food processor and it makes a liquidy mixture. Don't mix too long, just enough make it even else it adds too many bubbles. Pour onto base, and bake for 1 hour at the same temperature. Leave in the oven after turning off for 1 more hour. Then into the fridge for 6 hours and you're all set (literally :)).

Ideally you can use a springform pan, so that the sides can be taken off and you can cut beautiful pieces immediately. I didn't have one, and didn't want to buy one just for this, so used a regular pan. Did not try to heroically invert and take out, instead cut out the first piece which obviously doesn't come out looking great, and then you have enough moving space to cut out neat pieces for the rest. After cutting 3-4 pieces, the remaining big chunk came out easily for storing in a different container.


I had quite a big setback with a power cut of half an hour after it had been in the oven for 20 mins! Surprizingly and unlike how a usual cake would be ruined, this one's reasonably forgiving, and I still got something that looks and tastes pretty good :).

11 comments:

  1. This looks soooo delectable, aparna!!!! Yummy! Am going to try it out next time someone comes over. Tks for sharing.

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  2. Thank you Aparna :) It really does taste quite good - it's so thrilling when the first time you try out something works out well !
    Definitely not something to be made too often - else all my enthuasiasm of exercising will be completely nullified ;).

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  3. wow..this looks so yummmm....congrats on the successful first attempt..

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  4. I was more intrigued by the comments.. this is how it played in my head...
    Aparna: This is so yummy
    Aparna: I know.. thanks..Aparna..
    Aparna: Who are you thanking?
    Aparna: You
    Aparna: Me?
    Aparna: yeah You?
    Aparna: Me or you?
    Aparna: Never mind.
    Aparna: Thanks for sharing how to make it..
    Aparna: Am supposed to be the one thanking you for sharing..
    Aparna:Really? Never mind..I can try it on some unsuspecting folks when they come over
    Aparna: Exactly.. thats what i did.. the folks won't be coming back again.
    Aparna: I hope someone comes so that they wont come thereafter..

    Its so funny when Aparna talks to herself.. er..Aparna.. its the same thing... no? yeah? whatever!

    If you are going to say this guy is a nutjob... id say .. 'eh.. tell me something that I dont know already'

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  5. Yes definitely a nutjob! But u are funny, so the nuttiness is mitigated to some extent :) ROFL!

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  6. LOl @ Life_refactored's comment...truly funny...

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  7. LOL Life_Refactored! That was quite a recap :)

    Oh and btw the earlier comment wasn't me, it was Aparna!

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  8. Considering the power cut and all, your cake turned out so well! I never thought of using paneer in cheesecake before..might try when you post up the recipe ;)Ricotta cheese is so expensive over here too. For the digestive biscuit base, I don't bother chilling or baking it first..I just bake it together with the cake batter and so far it's turned out well. Sometimes i use butter cookies too for a change. :)

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  9. Thanks for dropping in Renu ! Butter cookies.. hmmm.. definitely for my next trial :).. and will do the baking together fundaa also !

    Did you mean Paneer recipe Renu - it's in the previous post :)

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  10. oops..missed it..ok now how do u make butter ;) is it difficult?

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  11. LOL Renu :)..

    Butter is quite easy but takes a while to collect the cream required. I take out the "yedu/aadai" from milk everyday and after 2-3 weeks there'll be a good amount. Add about one handful to a mixie-full of water and churn (with the round blade you use for making buttermilk). After about a minute or so the butter will separate and rise to the top and you can then filter it out. Only issue might be if you don't use enough water for the amount of cream taken otherwise the process is very straightforward.

    I still buy unsalted butter from the store sometimes as this doesn't make enough butter for all my baking :). But still in the spirit of trying to become a low-waste household, it's a nice thing to use the cream which I would have thrown away otherwise!

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