Baking for One: Medieval-Style Cheesecake rev. 1

Shortbread Crust

  • Cream:
    • 1/4 c. butter
    • 1/4 c. sugar
  • Mix in:
    • 1/2 c. flour

The result should be crumbly and just barely holds together if you press it between your fingers. The above amount turned out to be twice what I needed for the cheesecake below, so take half of the above and press it into the bottom of a mini springform cake pan.

Cheesecake

  • Cream:
    • one 3 oz. package of cream cheese (all my cheesecake recipes revolve around the 3 oz. package of cream cheese because that's what I can get as an individual package at the stores)
    • 1/4 c. sugar
  • Mix in:
    • 1 egg
    • (optional) 1-2 T. cream
    • flavoring option -- one of:
      • 1/2 t. lemon juice and pinch of lemon rind
      • 1 T. rose water
      • 1 T. ground blanched almonds (If you take sliced almonds and pound them in a mortar or run them briefly through a blender or food processor, it works nicely. Lately my local Trader Joe's has been stocking ground almonds, both in the blanched and non-blanched variety. This is a Good Thing.)
  • Pour over the crust in the springform cake pan.
  • Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.
 

Results

Hmm, no notes on this one. I'll have to try it again and get back to you. If it had been an utter disaster, I would have made notes. I recollect that the shortbread crust tended to stick to the allegedly non-stick pan, so it might work better going the piecrust route. Piecrust would also be more historically accurate for the dish, although this recipe is more in the "inspired by" than "exact reproduction of" category.

Calories per batch: 1073

(Calories from fat: ca. 550)


Copyright © 2004 Heather Rose Jones, all rights reserved