Lime Cheesecake with Gingernut Crust

Happy St Paddy's Day! While I did make this today, the fact that it is actually St Patrick's Day was just a happy coincidence. We were supposed to be having friends over for curry but a burst water pipe (at their place) and 2 screaming kids who missed their nap (at our place) put an end to our dinner plans.

Luckily there was still a cheesecake to be eaten, and cheesecake makes just about anything better!

This is a variation on Dorie Greenspan's Tall and Creamy Cheesecake from Baking: From My Home to Yours. I first made it for Tuesday's with Dorie a few years ago and it has been my go-to cheesecake ever since, with a different flavour each time.

I love the combination of lime and ginger here. While it doesn't have the same zing as my Key Lime Cheesecake which includes a layer of lime curd, when topped with a pillowy cloud of whipped cream this is creamy cheesecake heaven. Enjoy!

Lime Cheesecake with Gingernut Crust

For the cheesecake:
500g (2 boxes) cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup cream
2 large eggs
2/3 cup rice malt syrup (or white sugar)
Juice and zest of 2 small limes
1 ts vanilla

For the crust:
1 pack gingernut biscuits
100g melted butter

To decorate:
1 cup whipped cream
Zest of 1 lime

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Lightly grease a 20cm springform pan and line the base with baking paper.

To make the crust, place the biscuits in the food processor and blitz until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until well combined. Bake for approx 10 minutes. It should smell toasty and fragrant. Remove and allow to cool, then wrap the outside of the pan in 2 layers of alfoil.

Reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees celsius / 140 degrees fan-forced.

To make the cheesecake filling, first wipe out the bowl and blade of the food processor (no need to wash it as long as there are no crumbs left). Add the cream cheese and process until smooth. Add the rice malt syrup and process for 1 minute, add the cream and sour cream and process for 1 minute, add the eggs and process for 1 minute, then add the lime juice and zest  and vanilla and process for 3 minutes.

Pour into the prepared base. Place the springform pan into a large roasting dish. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up with sides of the springform pan. It can be safer to do this once the roasting pan is already in the oven.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown and the cheesecake is set with just a slight wobble in the middle. Turn off the oven, prop the door open with a wooden spoon and leave for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, remove the cheesecake from its water bath and place it on a rack to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Just prior to serving, smooth the whipped cream over the top and sprinkle with lime zest.

Serves 8-10.

Oh and as we ended up having to freeze most of this, I can personally vouch for the fact that this cheesecake tastes AMAZING frozen!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Creamiest Lime Meringue Pie

or The Pie Which Almost Wasn't Made.

We're having a pig of a week around here. N is home with the flu all week on doctor's orders (could be swine flu, hence the pig remark. Yeah I didn't think it was funny either but my fever made me type it!). I of course got sick as well almost immediately. What made it all really fun was the heatwave we're having in Brisbane at the moment. I hate the heat at the best of times but to be suffering through 35 degree days, in winter, with a high fever and a grizzly baby as well? Not fun.

Nonetheless, I am a baker. So I soldiered on and baked. But I did make a few minor stuffups from not reading packets or the recipe properly.

I decided to go with a crumb crust for this pie and used my standard recipe which is a 250g packet of sweet biscuits with 125g melted butter. I chose rice cookies for the base this time as they are made without wheat but didn't realise the packets are only 200g not 250. No wonder it was swimming with butter! I chucked in some cornflakes to soak up the excess and carried on.

I kinda forgot what I was making and pressed the crust only over the base of my springform pan not up the sides as well. That came back to bite me later as the filling started to ooze when I unmolded it. So I stuck the whole thing in the freezer for a couple of hours and that worked like a charm.

Our griller is separate from the oven and is no where deep enough to put a pie like this under to brown the meringue. So I drew an 8" template using the base of a baking pan and made a disc of meringue. I baked it at 180 degrees C for15 minutes until it was nicely browned and then plopped it on top of the filling. Done!

I only got one semi decent photo because it was quite late by this stage and still about 30 degrees and my pie was starting to soften like icecream and get the wobbles.

The taste test ...

AWESOME. I had my doubts but this really was the creamiest meringue pie ever. Often the fillings for these are gelatinous and a bit sweet. This was smooth and creamy and zingy from the lime and ginger. I would love to switch it up next time and use the cream filling as a topping for pavlova with lots of whipped cream and fruit. Delightful.

This week's recipe was chosen by Linda of Tender Crumb. You can get the recipe on her blog!