Rock Star Dessert!

The other night we had dear friends over for dinner and games. These folks, in particular, are such comfortable friends that our get-togethers are more like time spent with family.

For dinner, I decided to make my trimmed down version of Giada's Lasagna Rolls (you can find the recipe here) along with my Cheesy Garlic Rolls (will post soon!) and salad. One of my dinner guests is a huge garlic fan, so I knew this meal would score big points with her.

Can I just tell you... there is nothing like the smell of sauteing garlic. Between the lasagna rolls and the cheesy garlic rolls, my house was full of the aroma of garlic. My husband kept walking through the kitchen, muttering things like, "It smells so amazing in here" and "Mmmm.... I love garlic".

What I couldn't decide on, however, was dessert. I knew I wanted to do something with lemon... a lighter flavor after a nice Italian meal, but I just couldn't decide on which lemon dessert. At one point, I thought I had settled with my Lemon Cake Pie (recipe here) but for some reason, it just didn't seem right for that particular evening.

Did you know that if you search for "Italian Lemon Desserts" via Google you'll get 7,620,000 in 0.37 seconds? No exaggeration. Give it a try.

Thankfully, I found the one after just a couple of clicks. Lemon White Chocolate Cheesecake.

Oh. My. Word.

I topped it with some homemade candied lemon zest. Personally, I look for excuses to make candied lemon zest. If it is even remotely possibly that candied lemon zest *may* work in a dessert, it's there.

If you want to really wow guests with a dessert, I beg you to give this a try. It's so creamy, yet the lemon keeps it light, somehow. The crust is a great compliment because it's in the background and it, too, is light in flavor... and flaky.

You may, however, want to leave out the fact that there is a total of four - yes, four - packages of cream cheese in there. No reason to burst your guests' cheesecake bubble. Let them enjoy the cheesecake love without the guilt.

PS - You have to make this the day before of first thing in the morning the day of the dinner. Cheesecakes need to spend time in the fridge, joining little mini-cheesecake hands together to form that creamy, lemony flavor.

PPS - Lemon White Chocolate Cheesecake makes a great lunch the next day. Just saying.















Gluten Free Lemon White Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/4 cups gluten free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur brand)
1 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)
2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold

2 to 4 Tbsp cold water

Filling:
4 (8-oz) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
10 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled
2 Tbsp gluten free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur brand)
2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place a 9- or 10-inch springform pan on heavy duty foil. Securely wrap foil up around the sides of the pan and set aside.

In a food processor, combine gf flour, salt and sugar. Pulse processor a few times to combine dry ingredients. Cube cold butter, add to processor and pulse until butter pieces are pea-sized. With processor running, add water a tablespoon at time until the dough begins to clump together.

Roll dough out between two pieces of parchment paper or wax paper, big enough to cover the bottom of the springform pan and 1-inch up the sides. Press dough into pan and up sides.

Bake crust in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the melted and cooled white chocolate, flour, cream, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs and beat on low until just combined. Pour filling into the pre-baked crust.

Place the foil covered springform pan in a larger baking pan, add 1-inch of hot water to the larger pan. Place in the center of the oven and bake at 325 degrees for 65-85 minutes until the top appears dull and the center is set, but jiggly.

Remove the pan from the water bath and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the crust. Allow cheesecake to cool on the wire rack for 1 hour. After 1 hour, refrigerate cheesecake for at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove sides of the springform pan, slice and serve.

Makes 12 servings.

A Little Light Reading

In case you haven’t noticed, I love to bake. Although cooking is very high up on my list, baking will always been my first love. I still remember the year I received my very first cookbook, “The Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook”. I still have it. And up until my gluten intolerance diagnosis I was still using it now and again.

Thus began my love affair with cookbooks.

I read cookbooks like other people read a good novel – cover to cover. I love the photos, recipes, extra notes… I love it all! I love it for its practicality mixed with creativity. In the same book – in the same RECIPE – you can learn something brand new and be inspired to branch out and create something else. Love it!

I have what some might call… a large collection of cookbooks. There are the ones I keep handy for reference and inspiration. Those are kept in an easily accessible place. But then there are the completely outrageous… or old and sentimental… or professional level books that I keep just for fun. Just to read and soak up and learn new terminology or techniques. Out of most of those – OK, all of those - I will never, ever cook even one recipe. I just love to read them.

A little odd? I prefer to call it passion.

So what is a girl to do with cookbooks full of wonderful recipes that technically are taboo for GF people? Did you guess “play around with those wonderful recipes until you nail a delicious dessert that will knock the socks off of people”? You are absolutely RIGHT!

This one is unbelievable. I made this dessert for a dinner party at a friend’s house and one of the guests who happens to be a good friend gave probably the best possible review of my dessert. She said, “I don’t like cheesecake, Katie. And I don’t really like pretzels. But I love this!” Was she just being nice, you ask? When I asked if she wanted to bring some home her eyes lit up and she eagerly said “yes!”. I’m thinking she was in earnest.

If you love salt and sweet together… this is one dessert you are going to luhhhhhhhh-uhve. Word of caution, though. Use great restraint. If you bake this cheesecake just to have around the house you’ll pick, pick, pick until – voila! – it’s gone. And you and I both know that it won’t really be gone. It will be with you for weeks to come, if you get my meaning. So share the love – bake this one to bring to a get-together at a friend’s house. It will keep your waistline status quo and your friends happy.

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cheesecake

1 cup gluten free pretzel crumbs (crush 1 ½ to 2 cups of GF pretzels into crumbs)

3 Tbsp brown sugar

4 Tbsp butter, divided

8oz GF semi-sweet chocolate

4 8oz bars cream cheese, brought to room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp GF all-purpose flour

1 ½ Tbsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 ½ GF pretzels, broken into bite-size pieces

4 oz GF semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover the outside of a 9” or 10” spring form pan with aluminum foil and place in a large, shallow baking pan. In a small bowl, mix together pretzel crumbs, 3 Tbsp melted butter and brown sugar. Press into the bottom of the spring form pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.

In small glass mixing bowl, melt the 8oz chocolate in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir and cook for another 15 seconds. Stir again. If needed, continue to cook in 15 second increments, stirring after each time, until the chocolate is completely melted. On a piece of wax paper spread the 1 ½ cups of broken pretzel pieces. Pour the chocolate over the pieces and toss to coat. Refrigerate until set.

In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the sugar, GF flour and vanilla. Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed. Add the sour cream and beat on low speed.

Remove chocolate covered pretzels from the refrigerator and break up into bite-size chunks by hand. Add to the cream cheese mixture and fold to incorporate. Pour into the prepared spring form pan and smooth the top. Pour enough very hot water (boiling not necessary) into the large, shallow baking pan to cover the bottom half of the spring form pan. Bake, in the water bath, for 1 hour and 5 minutes.

Allow baked cheesecake to sit for 10-15 minutes then run a knife around the rim of the pan to help loosen the cake. Allow cheesecake to cool completely, then refrigerate for 8 hours.

To decorate, sprinkle extra crushed pretzel crumbs on top. Melt chocolate chips and 1 Tbsp butter in the microwave on high for 30 seconds, repeating the same steps used to melt the chocolate for the pretzels. Drizzle the melted chocolate-butter mixture over the top of the cheesecake and extra pretzel crumbs.