Gluten Free Grasshopper Cheesecake (Chocolate Mint)

Having nothing to do at work is going to make me fat. I sit there all day browsing the internet and poking around on Recipezaar making lists of tasty sounding recipes to try. Anyway, this year's St. Patrick's Day is my friend's 21st birthday. He isn't actually Irish, but everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day! So I decided to make him a cheesecake (or is it really for me?).

Here is the recipe I chose to base my cake off of: Grasshopper Cheesecake. I made a few changes along the way, which are all detailed below. My buddy is mildly allergic to chocolate, so I tried to keep as little chocolate on one half of the cheesecake as possible. My crust was half graham cracker and half chocolate and 100% gluten-free. I recommend making it with a full chocolate crust. To the cake!

Ingredients:
Crust:

• 1 1/2 cup Chocolate Cookie Crumbs (I used Kinninkinnick Kinnitoos)
• 8 pieces Andes Thins Creme de Menthe Chocolates
• 1/4 cup Butter
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Filling:

• 1 lb Cream Cheese*
• 1 cup Sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup Green Creme de Menthe*
• 3 tbsp Creme de Cacao
• 2 tbsp Flour (gluten-free*)
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 6 Egg Yolks
• 6 Egg Whites
• 1 cup Sour Cream*
• 16 pieces Andes Thins Creme de Menthe Chocolates, coarsely chopped

Topping:

• 1 cup Sour Cream*
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 3 tbsp Green Creme de Menthe*
• 1/4 cup Andes Thins Creme de Menthe Chocolates, finely grated

Notes:

• I used low fat creme cheese and sour cream and the cake came out great.
  
• If you don't have green Creme de Menthe, add some green coloring to the batter and use clear Creme de Menthe.
• For the 2 tbsp flour, I used Bette Hagman's Bean Mix: 2 parts garfava flour, 1 part sorghum flour, 3 parts cornstarch, and 3 parts tapioca flour. Feel free to substitute with your own mix.
• Make sure the eggs and cream cheese are room temperature before mixing.
  

Directions:

1. Combine chocolate cookie crumbs, Andes Mint crumbs, butter and cinnamon. Mix well.
2. Press into bottom and about 1 inch up sides of 9 inch springform pan.
3. Put cream cheese into mixing bowl and beat until creamy.
4. Add 3/4 cup sugar and mix well.
5. Stir in Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao, flour and salt.
6. Beat until well blended.
7. Stir in egg yolks, sour cream and beat until smooth and well blended.
8. In separate bowl, combine egg whites and 1/4 cup sguar. Beat until whites stand in soft peaks. Be 100% certain that there is not 1 tiny speck of yolk in the whites.
9. Fold beaten eggs whites and coarsely chopped Andes Mints into cream cheese mixture by hand.
10. Pour batter into crust and bake until toothpick or knife inserted into middle of cake comes out almost clean, or about 1 hour, in oven preheated to 325F. The top will puff up. Do not worry; this is normal.
11. Do not overbake and don't worry about cracks.
12. Remove from oven and place on wire rack. Cool for five minutes and run slim knife around outer edge of pan.
    
13. Let cool for about 2 hours and place in fridge for 4 hours.
14. Prepare topping by mixing together remaining cup of sour cream, 1/4 cup sugar and 3 tbsp Creme de Menthe. Mix until sugar is fully dissolved.
15. Pour topping onto fully cooled cake. Spread topping evenly, being sure to cover any cracks.
16. Bake in oven preheated to 350F for about 10 minutes or until topping is firm. DO NOT BROWN.
17. Sprinkle grated Andes Mints onto cooled cake.

I used a piece of paper to block part of the topping and made a 4 leaf clover design. Use your imagination.


Nutritional information:
12 Servings @ 2.35" each

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake

I was bored at work (hard to believe) and was poking around on Recipezaar. I somehow stumbled across the cheesecake section. Bad idea. I found three or four recipes that I have to try now. The recipes were:

• Cookie Dough Cheesecake
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake
• Turtle Cheesecake

I decided to start with the Peanut Butter Cheesecake. I had a hard time choosing between this recipe and this one. I ended up choosing the latter; the first simply looks too sinfully decadent. Maybe another time... Anyway, keeping with my quest for making recipe's more healthy, I substituted lower fat cream cheese and lower fat sour cream. The taste difference is negligible and I'm sure my stomach will appreciate any decrease in calories, however small.

Ingredients:
Crust:

• 1 cup Graham Cracker, crushed (I used Kinnikinnick S'moreables)
• 1/2 cup Oreo Cookie, crushed (I used Kinninkinnick Kinnitoos)
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 6 tbsp Butter, melted
• 3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

Filling:

• 3 8oz packages Cream Cheese, softened (low fat works great)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Sour Cream (low fat works great)
• 3 large Eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 1 cup Chocolate Fudge Topping
• 6 Reese Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs, cookie crumbs, sugar and butter
2. Press on the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a greased 9 inch springform pan.
3. Bake at 350º for 7-9 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
4. In a microwave safe bowl, heat peanut butter on HIGH for 30 seconds or until softened. Spread carefully over crust to within 1 inch of edges.
5. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs and beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. Pour one cup of cream cheese batter into a bowl and set aside. Pour remaining filling over peanut butter in crust.
6. In a microwave safe bowl, heat 1/4 cup hot fudge topping on HIGH for 30 seconds or until thin. Fold into reserved cream cheese batter. Carefully spoon over filling and cut through filling with a knife to swirl being careful not to disturb peanut butter layer or the crust.
7. Bake at 350º for 55-65 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen but do not remove sides. Cool 1 hour longer on wire rack.
8. Microwave remaining hot fudge topping for 30 seconds or until warmed. Spread over cheesecake. Garnish with peanut butter cups.
9. Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan and serve.

I spread some chunky peanut butter around the perimeter of the top. The design is up to you, but I arranged my peanut butter cups in a spiral pattern on the top. Enjoy!


Nutritional information:
12 Servings @ 2.35" each

Gluten Free Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake

I made this for Christmas dessert 2008. The neighbors loved it; they want me to move in and do all of the cooking.

This requires a fair bit of money to make. Don't buy cheap ingredients; it's going to cost ~$40. The original recipe is here. Make sure to read through the directions carefully before starting.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 5oz package Pamela's Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Chunk Cookies, crushed
  
• 4 oz Kinnikinnick Ktoos Chocolate Cream Cookies, crushed
• 6 oz Ghirardelli Intense Dark Espresso Escape 60% Cocoa Chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 6oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate)
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar, packed
• 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
• 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted

Ganache:

• 1 1/2 cups Whipping Cream
• 20 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, chips (or semisweet)
• 1/4 cup Kahlua (coffee flavored liquor)

Filling:

• 4 8oz packages Cream Cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups Sugar
• 2 tbsp Flour (gluten-free)
• 2 tbsp Dark Rum (such as Captain Morgans)
  
• 2 tbsp Instant Espresso Powder or Instant Coffee (more to taste)
• 2 tbsp Ground Whole Espresso Beans (or coffee beans)
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tsp Light Molasses
• 4 large Eggs

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups Sour Cream
• 1/3 cup Sugar
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Starbucks Milk Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans, for garnish

Directions:

Crust:

1. Finely grind cookies, chocolate, brown sugar, nutmeg in food processor.
2. Add butter and continue to process until crumbs begin to stick together, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl sides occasionally.
3. Transfer crumbs to 10 inch diameter springform pan with 3 inch high sides.
4. Wrap fingers with plastic and press crumb mixture firmly up sides to within 1/2" of top, then over bottom of pan.

Ganache:.

1. Bring whipping cream to simmer in large saucepan.
2. Remove from heat; add chocolate and Kahlua.
3. Whisk until chocolate is smooth and no lumps remain.
4. Pour 3 cups ganahce over bottom of crust. Reserve enough to pipe decoration on top of cake (about 1 cup, at most).
5. Chill until ganache is firm, about 30-45 minutes.

Filling:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until blended.
3. Beat in flour.
4. Stir rum, espresso powder, ground coffee, vanilla and molasses in small bowl until instant powder is dissolved. Beat into cream cheese mixture.
5. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, occasionally scraping sides of bowl.
6. Pour filling over cold ganache in crust.
7. Place cheesecake on rimmed baking sheet (important, butter drips out).
8. Bake until top is brown, puffed, and cracked at edges and center 2 edges moves only slightly when pan is jiggled, about 1 hour 5 minutes. NOTE: cooking time will vary, I had to bake mine for about 1 hour 30 minutes to achieve the desired consistency.
9. Transfer cheesecake to rack and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the topping.

Topping:

1. Whisk sour cream, sugar and vanilla in medium bowl to blend.
2. Pour topping over hot cheesecake, spreading to cover completely and cover cracks.
3. Bake for roughly 10 more minutes, until topping is set. Do not allow to brown.
4. Transfer cheesecake back to rack and refrigerate for 3 hours, or until cool.
5. Run small, sharp knife around edges of cheesecake to loose, release side pan.
6. Transfer cheesecake to platter.
7. Fill pastry bag with reserved ganache fitting with star top. If ganache is too runny, chill until it is handleable. If ganache is too hard, heat until pipeable.
8. Pipe diagonal lines atop cheesecake, about 3/4" apart.
9. Repeat in opposite direction, making a grid.
10. Pipe rosettes of ganache around top edge of cake.
11. Garnish with chocolate covered coffee beans, holding in place with small dollop of ganache.
12. Chill until firm, at least 6 hours. Best if refrigerated overnight.
    
13. Enjoy!

When serving, clean knife with a warm towel in between each slice to get a clean cut.

Nutritional information:

Be sure to post a review of my recipe on Recipezaar: http://www.recipezaar.com/cappuccino-fudge-cheesecake-gluten-free-360062