Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake
4 cups whole cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Pinot Noir
1/2 cup water
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer until the berries pop, about 15 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Using a blender, purée the berries in small batches and strain through a fine mesh strainer.
FOR THE CHEESECAKE:
2 pounds cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons Cranberry-Pinot Noir Purée
Preheat the oven to 350. Oil an 8″ x 3″ cake pan (*nee note) and line it with parchment paper. Set aside.
Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth, scraping the bowl often. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and stir until combined.
Pour 1/3 of the batter into the pan. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of purée and smooth gently. Drizzle 2 more tablespoons of the purée over this layer. Top with the rest of the batter. Pull a table knife through the layers of batter and purée to swirl; then sharply rap the pan on the counter to settle the batter and eliminate holes or bubbles.
Place the pan in a hot water bath and bake for 90 minutes, rotating once or twice to ensure even baking. When the cheesecake is done, it will have risen almost to the top of the pan and will be a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature in its water bath. Remove from water bath and refrigerate overnight.
To remove the cake from the pan, place the pan in warm oven for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the pan upside-down on a platter or cake plate and shake hard! Remove the pan and the parchment liner and return to the refrigerator. Glaze when cool.
*NOTE: Pan available from good kitchen stores. If you use a springform pan, wrap it carefully on the outside with foil to prevent water from seeping into the cheesecake during baking. Turn the baked cheesecake upside-down on a serving plate so that the top crust becomes the bottom of the cheesecake.
FOR THE CRANBERRY-CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
4 ounces dark chocolate, preferably Callebaut bittersweet
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup Cranberry-Pinot Noir Purée
Place the ingredients in a glass bowl. Heat them in a microwave on full power, 1 minute at a time, whisking well after each minute, until the chocolate melts. Allow the melted ganache to cool to spreading consistency. Pour over the cooled cheesecake, letting the glaze dribble over the edges.
FOR THE CRANBERRY-PINOT NOIR SAUCE:
1/4 cup Pinot Noir
1/2 cup sugar
Remaining Cranberry-Pinot Noir Purée
Place all ingredients in saucepan and heat over low heat until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate until ready to use. Sauce may be served in a pitcher on the side, or pooled on a plate under a slice of the cheesecake.
Cranberry Sorbet
2 cans jellied cranberry sauce
1 -48 oz bottle cranberry apple juice
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 1/4 lemon
juice of 1/4 orange
zest of 1 lemon
grated ginger to taste.
Melt sauce over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients and heat until sugar dissolves. Freeze. Serve garnished with candied orange peel and frest mint. Makes 1 1/2 quarts.
Pink Arctic Freeze
6 ounces cream cheese
1 can cranberry sauce — whole or jellied
7 ounces crushed pineapple — drained
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (see note below)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup nuts
1 cup whipping cream — whipped
Soften cheese. Mix in cranberry sauce, pineapple, sugar, mayonnaise and nuts. Fold in whipped cream and freeze in 8×8 inch baking dish or spoon into cupcake papers for individual servings.
Boreal Forest Cranberry Brownies
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup cranberries — fresh or frozen
1/2 cup walnuts — chopped, optional
Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in cocoa. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extract and stir until well blended. Stir chocolate mixture into dry ingredients. Add cranberries and nuts and mix just until blended. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely. Ice when cooled with Chocolate Cranberry Icing.
Chocolate Cranberry Icing
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons cranberry juice*
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
Melt butter in small saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in cocoa and almond extract. Add cranberry sauce and cranberry juice; stir well. Add sugar; mix until well blended. To make cranberry juice just for the icing, simmer berries for a few minutes in 1/8 cup water, or you may use commercial cranberry juice.
Cranberry Crown Cheesecake
1 cup cookie crumbs
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 8 oz pkgs cream cheese
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
Baked Cranberry Orange Sauce
3 cups cranberries — fresh or frozen
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon orange peel — grated
Cheesecake
In a 9-inch cheesecake pan with removable rim, mix cookie crumbs and butter. Pat mixture evenly over bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides of pan. Bake crust in a 350 degree oven until slightly browner, 8 to 10 minutes. In a 1 to 1 1/2 quart pan, mix gelatin with 2 tablespoon cold water; let stand until softened, about 1 minute. Stir over medium heat until gelatin is dissolved, about 45 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in orange juice and vanilla. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat cheese, sugar and gelatin mixture until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until smoothly blended. Pour mixture into hot or cool crust. Bake cheesecake in 325 degree oven until center jiggles only slightly when pan is gently shaken, 30 to 35 minutes. Then chill, uncovered, until cold, at least 2 hours. Serve, or cover airtight and chill up to 1 day. Just before serving, lightly blot any moisture from surface of cake with a paper towel. Spread cranberry sauce evenly over cake. Remove pan rim and cut cake into wedges.
Baked Cranberry Orange Sauce
In a 8- or 9-inch square baking dish, mix cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange peel. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven, stirring occasionally, until berries are tender when pierced and juices are syrupy, about 1 hour.
Crumb Crust
2 1/4 cups graham-cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter or margarine — melted
3 tablespoons sugar
Cheese Filling
2-8 oz pkgs light cream cheese — softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon peel — freshly grated
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
1-16 oz can whole-berry cranberry sauce
Prepare Filling. In small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, gradually beat in sugar. Beat in lemon peel, vanilla and eggs just to blended. Pour filling evenly over cooled crust. In small bowl mix cranberry sauce with spoon to loosen. Spoon dollops of sauce over cheese mixture, with tip of knife, but and twist through mixture to create a marble design. Bake 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out almost clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight until firm enough to slice.
White Chocolate Cranberry Cake
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups cranberries — fresh or
6-1 oz squares white chocolate — chopped
or 1 cup white chocolate chips
white chocolate curls
White Chocolate Glaze
3-1 oz squares white chocolate or
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
2 tablespoons orange juice
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Add eggs, orange juice and rind; beat well. Add flour and baking powder; beat well. Stir in cranberries and chopped chocolate. Turn batter into a greased and floured 10″ tube or bundt pan. Bake at
350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto cooling rack. Melt chocolate and juice over low heat or in microwave on Medium for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake. Garnish with white chocolate curls.
