Creamy cheesecake in a pool of raspberry puree. Photo by Kelly Cline | IST.

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May 2006
Updated April 2009

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cookies, Cakes & Pastries

Great Cheesecake Recipes

Page 1: Mascarpone Cheesecake Recipe

From Classic New York Cheesecake To Fancy Grand Marnier Cheesecake...You’ll Want To Make All Of Them

Overview

A cheesecake is actually not a cake but a pie: It’s a cheese custard pie with a bottom crust. But no one will split hairs—everyone’s too much in love with this most delicious of desserts. (There are savory cheesecakes, too, and you can enjoy them with a glass of wine for an appetizer. Read our review of Savory Secret savory cheesecakes.)

We’re collecting some of our favorite cheesecake recipes here. Of our first three cheesecakes, two use mascarpone, the “Italian cream cheese.” One is the best variation of a New York cream cheese cake we’ve ever had, from NIBBLE Editor Karen Hochman’s mother. This is Page 1 of a three-page article. Click on the black links below to visit other pages.

• Page 1: Michael Chiarello’s Mascarpone Cheesecake Recipe
• Page 2: Karen Harper’s Grand Marnier Mascarpone Cheesecake Recipe
• Page 3: Joan Hochman’s Sour Cream Topping Cheesecake Recipe

Michael Chiarello’s Mascarpone Cheesecake

Michael Chiarello, host of the eponymous Public Television Series Michael Chiarello's Napa, has compiled some of the best recipes from the series into a cookbook (click here for more information or to purchase). Here is one of them:

Serves 10

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter or vegetable oil cooking spray for the cake pan
• 1-1/2 cups fine biscotti crumbs (made in a food processor) or other cookie crumbs (you’ll need about 1/2 pound biscotti to make the 1-1/2 cups of crumbs)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 pound mascarpone cheese
• Boiling water as needed

Read more about mascarpone.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Butter or spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil to prevent leakage. The foil should come all the way up the sides of the pan because the cheesecake will bake in a water bath.
3. In a bowl, mix the crumbs and butter well. Pat the mixture firmly into place on the bottom of the prepared pan and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until completely blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest, then add the mascarpone and beat until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan.
5. Place the cake pan in a larger pan and add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for 1 hour, rotating the pan after 30 minutes for even cooking. It will be lightly colored on the top. Remove from the oven and let cool in the water bath. As it cools, it will shrink a little from the sides of the pan.
6. When completely cool, remove the pan sides and slide the cheesecake onto a plate. Cover and refrigerate. Serve chilled.

Continue To Page 2: Grand Marnier Cheesecake

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