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Although today it might be cold and cloudy with a little snow on the grass on this spring day, last weekend I took a break from all my work on Boston Bakes to do something I had not done in a while! Bake!  It felt good to bake something.  The house was filled with wonderful smells, the windows were open and it was a good day.

My problem was I could not find the safe place I hid my favorite cheesecake recipe from Wolfgang Puck which I had been making for years.  The recipe was nowhere to be found.  I could not find “my recipe” which held my memories for the special occasions I made it for on any google search and the cheesecake recipes I found from Wolfgang Puck was not the one I usually made.  But I tried it anyway.

One day, I keep promising myself I will find the time to organize all my recipes and put them on my computer for easy access.  The day has not come yet so I guess I will lose recipes only to find new ones to make which will bring new memories on why I was making the recipe in the first place.

This cheesecake had a wonderful butter crunch crust and a wonderful balance of cream cheese, sour cream, dark rum, lemon and of course sugar to make a delicious creamy cheesecake.

I found out trying a new recipe to replace an old favorite is not a bad thing after all.

When you want to try a new cheesecake recipe try Spago’s Cheesecake and you will be glad you did.

SPAGO CHEESECAKE

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 10

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Butter Crunch Crust:

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Filling

  • 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon dark rum
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs

Method

Instructions

  1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the butter crunch with your hands, until the mixture resembles very small pebbles.
  3. Press the Butter Crunch Crust into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan and cover base completely. Wrap heavy-duty foil (or 2 layers of regular foil) around the bottom and up the sides of the pan, pleating to tighten. Bake crust for about 8 minutes until lightly golden.
  4. Make the filling: Place the cream cheese, sugar, and salt in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle or beaters, on medium speed, beat until smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides and under the beaters with a rubber spatula. Turn the speed to high and continue to beat until nice and creamy. Stop the machine, add the sour cream, rum, lemon juice, and vanilla, then , on medium speed, continue beating until well blended. Add eggs and beat just until combined. Scrape into the prepared springform pan and set the pan in the center of a larger baking pan. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach about halfway up the sides of the springform pan, but not about the foil.
  5. Carefully place both pans in the oven and bake until the top is lightly golden and slightly firm in the center, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. (Cake will become firmer as it cools.) Remove pans from the oven and carefully lift out the springform pan and place on a rack. Remove foil from pan to help cool the cake. When completely cool, refrigerate, covered, overnight. (The cake should not be served until it is very firm.)Makes one 9-inch cake, serves 10-12

Presentation

To serve, dip a long, sharp knife into warm water and run the knife around the inside of the springform pan, loosening the cake from the pan. Remove the outer ring. To cut into slices, dip knife into warm water as necessary. Garnish each slice with berries of your choice.

 

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