Episode 60
July 24, 2011
Grasshopper Cheesecake
Let it be known that cheesecake is actually one of my least favorite desserts. I typically prefer sweet desserts and cheesecake is known for its characteristic sour notes. I’m also a fan of desserts that have some crunch to them – something that soft cheesecakes often lack. That being said, I love this cheesecake. This time around I made a thick crust with teddy grahams (a guilty pleasure) and pre-baked it giving the crust a very crunchy texture. Also by adding the flavorings of one of my favorite dessert cocktails cheesecake’s sour notes are less pronounced and you get a nice rounded effect – at least in terms of the flavor.
The grasshopper cocktail is typically served as a night cap. A night cap is an alcoholic beverage you typically drink right before going to bed. In other words, the adult version of a warm glass of milk. This cocktail is made using creme de menthe (a mint liqueur), creme de cacao (a chocolate liqueur), and either milk, cream, or Bailey’s irish cream. It is served chilled, often on the rocks. The characteristic green color the cocktail has is from the food coloring found in the creme de menthe. Creme de menthe is also available clear.
I first attempted to make this cheesecake back in school, though then the flavor combination was inspired by Thin Mints – the girl scout cookies. My chef for that class was very insistent that I infuse real mint leaves into the cake. While I’m all for natural flavors it just didn’t work. Cheesecake is essentially a big hunk of fat with all the cream cheese in it. Fat is great for helping make foods more flavorful but with that much fat present rather than help flavor molecules along it actually just covers them up and they get lost in the dessert. In order to compensate, you have to add in a lot of extra flavor. The problem with real mint is that if you add too much it begins to taste like grass – not to mention you waste a ton of fresh mint leaves and it takes forever to steep. When my friend Katie of Katie Cakes Cakery saw that I was making this cheesecake she was reminded of the same day (we took that class together) and how we ended up taking it back to her dorm room, flipping the cheesecake upside-down, and just eating the crust. Ah, such refinement.
I hadn’t thought about making this cheesecake since then. As I was flipping through my old cookbooks from school for a recipe to make for my blog I stumbled upon it and decided I would give it another go but with one big difference – I would use booze! Alcohol is great for flavoring desserts since many liqueurs have very pronounced flavors and can cut through all the fat. Alcohol also comes in many more flavors than you can find in a grocery store, and it also gives your dessert a grown-up feel to it. There are chefs that feel that alcohol has no place in the kitchen, which I adamantly disagree with, but I understand where they are coming from – especially those who abstain from alcohol for religious or health reasons. In those cases, you can use peppermint extract to get the mint flavor or you can try crushing up peppermint candies and melting them down in the heavy cream though I honestly don’t know how successful that will be. Just whatever you do, don’t use real mint unless you want your cheesecake to taste like a freshly mowed lawn.
The heavy cream in this recipe is actually not boiled. In fact, since there is so little prep work to make cheesecake, cheesecake is popularly known as being an easy to make dessert. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use the heavy cream as a way to steep in flavor. Dry flavoring agents like teas, herbs, and spices are great for steeping in heavy cream. Just make sure to allow your heavy cream to cool before using it.
Another friend of mine from school, Kat, is really great at making cheesecakes – and she makes them all the time. Before I started this episode I asked her for some tips on how to make a great cheesecake. She said that one of the things she does is that she cuts some of the cream cheese with neufchatel. Neufchatel is also known as 1/3 less fat cream cheese and is basically the original version of cream cheese that was popularized in Europe. It’s said that cream cheese is the result of Americans trying to make neufchatel – but we liked cream cheese so much we kept it. One huge advantage neufchatel has over cream cheese is that it is soft even when chilled – making it perfect for spreading right out of the fridge. It is also creamier in texture compared to cream cheese. By replacing third of the cream cheese with neufchatel the result is a smoother, creamier cheesecake that is less likely to crack on the surface. Of course, if you want the firmer more cake-like texture of a traditional cheesecake you’ll want to use all cream cheese.
Many home bakers feel that the perfect cheesecake has no cracks on the surface. While appearance-wise this is true, you should not feel defeated if your cheesecake cracks or bubbles a little on the surface. In the end we’re just going to eat it so I feel that a perfect cheesecake is the one the tastes the best – not necessarily looks the best. Besides every baker knows that you can easily hide a cracked surface on a cheesecake with a nice thick topping like ganache or cherries – but you can’t hide a poorly tasting cheesecake!
That being said, I’ll give you a few tips on making a cheesecake that doesn’t crack. Despite popular belief – a lumpy batter will not necessarily lead to a cracked cheesecake. It just means that your cheesecake could have a poor texture – or at least an inconsistent texture. That texture could lead to a cracked surface if the lumps are big enough. So basically tip #1 is to make sure your batter is lump free. You can do this by creaming your cream cheese together in the beginning, scraping the bowl frequently during the mixing process (including the bottom!), and by slowly incorporating liquid ingredients. A few small lumps doesn’t matter – but those big chunks that are like the size of garden stones can be an issue.
One of the more major reasons cheesecakes get cracked is from too much air being added to the batter. The air trapped in the batter expands in the oven and if it is severe enough and late enough in the baking process the cheesecake can rupture as the air escapes. So tip #2 is to make sure not to over mix your batter especially after you’ve added the eggs. Mix the batter until the ingredients are just incorporated and you may even wish to mix your batter by hand.
The biggest reason cheesecakes get cracked, at least the most popular reason it seems, is that the cheesecake bakes unevenly in the oven. The uneven baking causes the eggs to set up a different rates and much like flan if the batter is over cooked it will begin to bubble and crack and in extreme cases it will look like quiche or scrambled eggs. Mmm… quiche. I should make that for an episode! Anyway, the best way to protect your cheesecake from over baking is to use a water bath and a low temperature oven – just like when you make flan.
In the video I show you how to make a water bath. Basically, place a sheet pan in the pre-heated oven then place the ready to bake cheesecake on top of the sheet pan. Then pour water in the sheet pan until the water is halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Make sure your sheet pan is deep enough as many sheet pans are barely an inch deep. Casserole and pyrex dishes work well but they are often not wide enough to accomodate most cake pans.
The safest temperature to bake your cheesecake is 300 degrees F and it should take about 45 – 60 minutes for your cheesecake to be done. Be careful, your cheesecake can over bake even with a water bath. Kat says the best way to check if the cheesecake is done is not necessarily the jiggle, though there should be a very slight jiggle, but rather by touching the surface of the cheesecake. It should not stick to your fingers. Once the cheesecake is firm (very little jiggle) and it doesn’t stick to your fingers it is ready to take out of the oven.
Now most people feel it is an absolute necessity to use a springform pan to make 
cheesecake. Not true. Springform pans definitely make removing cheesecakes a whole lot easier but cheesecake has been around much longer than springform pans have. You can use a regular cake pan and with a little preparation your cheesecake will remove just fine. First, spray pan release in your cake pan. Then cut out a parchment paper circle to fit the exact size of the bottom of pan – remember to trace the bottom of the pan not the top. I know normally I say that this isn’t important but because of the crumb crust you need to. Then spray the top of the parchment with more pan release. Prepare your crumb crust with an egg white and pre-bake it. The egg white and pre-baking makes sure your cookie crust is extra strong. Bake your cheesecake as normal then refrigerate it for at least 4 hours but I strongly recommend over night.
To release, run your knife along the sides of the cake to help release it from the sides. Then place a cake cardboard on top of the cheesecake – ideally you want it to touch the surface of the cheesecake so you may need an 8″ cardboard if you have a 9″ pan. The reason for this is if your cheesecake releases too quickly and hits your cardboard the crumb crust can get into the surface of your cheesecake or your can crack your cheesecake. A slight line may form on the top from where the cardboard was but you should be able to use your finger and gently rub the crack to cover it up and of course you’re decorating the top of the cheesecake so you can hide it that way as well.
Anyway I think that pretty much covers cheesecakes. I’ve included the original New York Style Deli Cheesecake recipe that we used in school so if you want to come up with your own flavor cheesecake you can start with a blank canvas. Otherwise here is the Grasshopper Cheesecake recipe which includes the cookie crust recipe and the ganache recipe for the drizzle topping. If you prefer to download the recipes separately just click their individual names. Enjoy the video below!
