Classic cream cheesecake recipe with chocolate ginger cookie crust

New York Cheesecake Recipe Demonstration - Joyofbaking.com
Ingredients

For the cookie crust crumb

300-400g homemade cookies (see chocolate ginger snap recipe below)OR 300-400g packet biscuits (Arnott"sChocRipple or similar are a good texture)75g melted butter (add a bit more if using packet biscuits)*

*Packet biscuitsusuallycontain very little fat, so they need more melted butter to hold their shape. I found I needed 400 grams ofhomemadebiscuitsand 75 grams of melted butter.

For the cheesecake175g mascarpone*225gcastorsugar750g full fat cream cheese4 eggs, 60g each, separated250g sour cream3tsplemon juice or vanilla extractbig pinch of salt

* If you like,youcan replace the cooked mixture ofmascarpone and sugar with a 395-gram tin of sweetened condensed milk, and just pour that into the cream cheese with the yolks.

For the chocolate ginger snap cookies (if making, or use packet biscuits)

300g unsalted butter200g golden syrup250g brown sugar10g ground ginger1 egg, 60g350g plain flour80g cocoa tsp bicarbof sodaMakes60 cookies, enough fortwo cookie crusts.

Method

For the chocolate ginger snap cookies (if making)

1. Melt the butter, then stir in the golden syrup, sugar and ginger. Pourmixtureinto abowl, then beat in the egg.

2. Stir in the flour, cocoa and bicarb, then mix to a smoothpaste.

3. Scoop heaped teaspoons of the mixture onto a baking tray lined with non-stick paper spaced aboutfivecentimetresapart and bake at 160C/140C fan forced for about 18minutes until crisp at the edges. Leftover dough can be rolled into a log, wrappedinnon-stick paper, and frozen to use atanother time.

Tip: Freeze the biscuits beforecrumbingsothey grind finely.

For the cookie crust crumb

1. Grind the homamade OR packet cookies to a powder, then mix in enough melted butter until the cookie crumbshold their shape when pressed together.

2. Press the crumb mixtureevenlyand firmly across the base and halfway up the sides of a deep 23cm in diameterspringformcaketin on a lipped baking tray.

3. Bake at 180C/140C in fan forced oven for 20 minutes to cook the crumb, then remove from the oven.

4. Coolslightly and use a straight-sided coffee mug to press the hot crumb mix back up the sides of the tin if it has dropped down.

For the cheesecake

1. Put the mascarpone andcastorsugar in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir until it forms asyrup. Remove from the heat when it boils, then leave to cool.

2. Beat the cream cheese until soft and smooth, then beat in the mascarpone syrup and egg yolks. Next, beat in the sour cream and lemon juice.

3. In a very clean bowl, whisk the eggs whites with the salt to stiff peaks. Fold this through the cheese mixture evenly.

4. Pour the mixture in thespringformtin right to the top, and bake at140C/120C fan-forced for about 75 to90 minutes, or until the temperature deep in the middle reaches 65C, or just before the middle of the cake fully rises while it"s stillwobbly.

5. Leave to cool, then chill before serving.

Source: http://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/classic-cream-cheesecake-recipe-with-chocolate-ginger-cookie-crust-20161106-gsjbn8