Blueberry Cheesecake

This is a very simple baked blueberry cheesecake recipe from Taste.com The original recipe is Baked Lemon and Blueberry cheesecake however, I had adapted the recipe to suit my taste and preference. You see, I prefer my cheescake baked so this recipe was quite handy.

Adapted ;)
Ingredients
375g cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
300ml cream  did not use, seriously, I forgot!
1 teaspoon lemon zest used in making coulis
2 tablespoons lemon juice used in making coulis
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups Coles Brand Australian Fresh Frozen Blueberries
Icing sugar, to dust (optional)
Fresh blueberries, to decorate (optional) I added strawberries 
200g Scotch Finger biscuits   Used biscuits crumbs from a packet
80g butter, melted

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170C (150C fan). Spray side and base of 22cm springform pan with oil. Line base with baking paper.
2. In a food processor, process biscuits until they resemble fine bread crumbs. Add butter and pulse until mixture comes together. Press crumb mixture into base of pan. Refrigerate.
3. Wipe processor clean and add cream cheese, sugar, half of the cream, zest, juice and vanilla. Process until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and process in short bursts. Pour into pan, scatter over blueberries and stir gently to distribute evenly.
4. Bake for 1 hour; the cheesecake should still be slightly wobbly in the centre. Cool completely in oven. Refrigerate overnight.
5. Dust cheesecake with icing sugar and serve with remaining cream, whipped, and fresh blueberries.

Choc Cherry Cheesecake

Summer is upon us and there are an abundance of cherries everywhere you go. I bought some from the local cherryman on the way back from work last week. He was parked next to the servo and I knew I just had to stop. All I could think of when I saw the cherries was, "Should I make a choc cherry galette or a choc cherry cheesecake ?"

The cheesecake won, when I bought some Philly cream cheese blocks, which were on specials during my xmas grocery shopping.

This recipe is from http://www.taste.com.au
Ingredient

• 250g biscuits crumbs (I am using my baked Gingerbread men cookies for crumbs for the Xmas theme)
• 125g butter, melted
• 500g cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
• 300g sour cream
• 300g cherries, pitted, halved
• cherries and icing sugar, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Grease a 5.5cm-deep, 24cm (base) springform pan. Process biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter. Process to combine. Press mixture over base ofprepared pan. Cover. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to combine. Beat in cocoa and sour cream until just combined. Fold in cherries. Spread over biscuit mixture.

3. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until centre is just firm. Turn off oven. Cool in oven for 3 hours with door slightly ajar. Refrigerate overnight. Top with cherries. Dust with icing sugar and serve. If you are feeling creative, you can make chocolate curls and laced the top with it for cherries to sit on. I was too lazy, even to break open a pack of Chocolate Flakes. Just trying to keep in simple and fast.

Note: I put mine in a water bath to bake in the oven, to prevent cracking in the middle. Just a tip I picked up from the net. A water bath is when you cover the bottom of cake pan and then sit the cake pan on hot water while baking. See my last photo below. As it turned out , my cheesecake only had a small crack in the middle. Almost perfect!

Before 

After