The Christmas cheesecake is currently baking in the oven. I like cheesecake, but it is the desert of choice for my wife's family. I make a tradtional NEw York cheesecake with the crust being the only exception. This crust is gluten free. I make this cheesecake a few times a year. There are some variations in the crust as I try different gluten free cookies pulverized in a food processor, but the cheesecake never really changes. This time the sugar has been infused with vanilla beans and the vanilla extract was homemade. We'll see if there is a nice vanilla flavored boost in this cheesecake. Here is some cream cheese mixing. Only 7 blocks of cream cheese...the vanilla extract is in front of the mixer.
Here is a shot of the gluten free crust. The springform pan is wrapped in aluminum foil for two reasons. First, it will help keep the water bath from getting into the cheesecake. The foil also prevents steam from going over the top of the cheesecake. The walls of the roasting pan are higher than the walls of the springform pan. Without the foil barrier, the top of the cheesecake steams and gets, well, not good. Ask me how I know.
And here is the cheesecake ready to go in the oven. I'll post an update when the cheesecake is done and cooling.
UPDATE: Here is the cheesecake cooling. Doesn't look much different. It does smell better though.
Yum, perfect cheesecake! I'm sure everyone enjoyed it. tons.
ReplyDeleteI found it's a lot less of a pain in the ass for me to just put the pot/pan of water on the rack underneath the cake. Or on the floor of the oven. For some reason my springform pans leak and love combining with H2O, even when I think I've completely wrapped the mofo in tin foil.
I love that you made your own extract too. The more I read about it, the more I feel the urge to do it myself.