Amaretto-Kahlua Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

This is one of my favorite cheesecake recipes. Having recently acquired a (used) Magic Mill Assistent [sic] DLX-2000 mixer, I thought that it would make a great cheesecake (in addition to its purported excellent bread making capabilities), and it did.

Ingredients

Chocolate Chip Crust

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds [optional]

3/4 cup chocolate chips, chopped into smaller morsels

1 package graham crackers

5 packages amaretti di Saronno cookies [optional]

1/4 cup melted butter

Stock filling

3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup sugar

4 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

Chocolate Kahlua layer

1 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup Kahlua liquor

Amaretto layer

1/4 cup Amaretto liquor

Instructions

Chocolate Chip Crust

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Butter bottom of 10-inch springform pan.

In food processor, mix graham crackers and cookies until there are only large crumbs. Add nuts and chocolate chips and process until there are no large pieces left. Dump out into a medium bowl and sprinkle the melted butter over the crumb mixture. Stir until uniformly moist.

Press crumb mixture evenly into bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes, then cool.

Filling

Beat cream cheese at medium speed until creamy. Continue beating while adding lemon juice, vanilla, cream, and sour cream, scraping down sides of bowl. [Here's where the DLX-2000 really shined, by doing a great job removing any lumps of cream cheese, without needing to scrape the bowl.] Add sugar slowly while beating. When sugar is absorbed, beat in eggs gradually. When blended, divide into two equal portions. Set aside.

Chocolate Kahlua layer

Heat chocolate chips and cream over low heat until melted (microwave works fine). Add the Kahlua and blend into one of the filling halves.

Pour into pan with chocolate chip crumb crust.

Bake in oven for 25 minutes. The filling should be soft in the center. While the bottom layer is cooking, prepare upper Amaretto layer.

Amaretto Layer

Blend liquor into second half of stock filling.

When lower layer is ready, remove pan from oven and pour Amaretto filling very gently over the still hot lower chocolate layer. 

Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for 30 minutes or until center of cake is still slightly pudding-like. The center should be 150 degrees when measured with an instant-read thermometer. Do not overcook.

Remove from oven and allow to cool thoroughly in a draft-free place. (I turn off oven and leave in oven for 30 minutes with door slightly ajar to cool slowly; then leave in oven overnight.)

Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.

Eat and enjoy, but remember: it's very, very rich!

Notes: Ideally, you would make this in a water bath, but it's hard to find an outer pan large enough. It would also be a pain to remove the pan part-way through to add the second layer. If you do use a water bath, you either need a waterproof springform pan or a large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil to keep the water out of the cheesecake.

Blackberry Cobbler

I made this twice recently with freshly-picked local berries. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Filling

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. arrowroot

2 tsp. tapioca flour

pinch ground cinnamon

pinch salt

8 cups fresh blackberries

1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest plus 1 Tbs. lemon juice

Topping

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 Tbs. stone-ground cornmeal (or polenta)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

4Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup buttermilk (or milk with lemon added)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tbs. coarse or raw sugar

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter the insides of a large ceramic casserole dish.

For the filling: Stir the sugar, cornstarch, arrowroot, tapioca, cinnamon, and salt together in a small bowl (use about 2 Tbs. of any combination of thickeners). Rinse the berries (I soak them in water and drain several times) and shake gently to dry. Place the berries in the casserole dish, sprinkle on the sugar mixture, lemon zest and juice and mix gently. Bake until the filling is hot and bubbling around the edges, about 25 minutes.

For the topping: Whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine. In a separate large bowl whisk the buttermilk and vanilla. Just before the berries come out of the oven, add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture and stir gently with rubber spatula. Add the melted butter and mix until thoroughly combined.

Remove the berries from the oven; increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of dough, flatten them (about 1/4 inch thick), and place on the hot berry filling, spacing the chunks at least 1/2 inch apart. Sprinkle the dough with raw sugar. Bake until the filling is bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown on top and cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool the cobbler on a wire rack 20 minutes and serve.

[adapted from Baking Illustrated]

Orange Chicken

Inspired by Ben's Lobster in Orange Sauce

Sauce:
1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice
1 1/2 cups apple cider
juice of 1 lemon
squeeze of kaffir lime juice (optional, of course)
a few slices of kaffir lime peel
2 whole garlic cloves
2 sprigs thyme

To make the sauce, bring all of the ingredients to a boil in a saucepan and then cook on low simmer until syrupy, about 30 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Remove peel, garlic, and thyme.

Chicken:
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2 packages from Costco)

Remove fat from chicken and cut into bite-sized chunks. Saute in a touch of olive oil. (I used a 12" non-stick saute pan.) When cooked, pour off excess fat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve:
Add sauce to chicken and heat through, coating chicken well. Serve on short-grain rice.