I want cheesecake.
I've been saying that for about two weeks now. It's A Thing. It's A Thing that requires I commit to being home for a few hours because I want SERIOUS cheesecake -- the kind that takes time to bake and that needs to sit for a while before you eat it. I have some fantastic recipes for pumpkin, Snickers, vanilla, fruit-flavored, and pretty much every kind of cheesecake under the sun. I haven't used any of those recipes in years because cheesecake. Commitment. Home.
So what happens when I want cheesecake but am not ready to commit to being home for a while is that I end up making no bake cheesecake. It's an OK substitute, even if it doesn't quite fill the bill. The most recent version is a Clementine Cheesecake, which is all because I am in the middle of a love affair with clementines.
You can call them Cuties if you want. I refuse. "Clementine" is a plenty fun word for me.
Anyway, this is my standard no bake cheesecake with clementines substituted for the lime I frequently make. Neither is better than the other. They're both good, just in different ways.
The clementines are a little more subtle than the limes, so rather than making the citrus flavor pop with extra zest, I drizzled a little Clementine Curd on top. It was a most excellent decision.
Clementine Cheesecake
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 package cream cheese (I used reduced fat cream cheese)
3/4 cup sugar
Juice from 2 clementines
Zest from 2 clementines
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1. Make the crust or cheat and use a premade one. I won't judge either way.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, clementine juice, vanilla, and clementine zest with a mixer on low speed until smooth (about two minutes).
3. In a separate large bowl, beat the heavy cream with a mixer at high speed until peaks begin to form.
4. Add the cream cheese mixture to the whip cream little by little, gently stirring to combine the two.
5. Spoon the clementine cheesecake filling into your pie crust.
6. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before eating.
7. Top with Clementine Curd, if desired.
Clementine Curd
Zest from 3 clementines
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice (the 3 clementines should get you close enough)
Dash salt
1. Place the zest in a food processor with the sugar. Pulse until the zest is finely minced.
2. Cream the butter in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Slowly add the sugar/clementine zest to the butter and mix well.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, while continuing to mix.
5. Gradually add the clementine juice and salt.
6. Pour everything into a medium saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring constantly. The Clementine Curd will thicken when it reaches about 170 degrees. It takes about ten minutes for me to get it to thicken. If you see any signs of the Clementine Curd starting to boil, remove it from the heat immediately. It's done!
7. Place the Clementine Curd in the refrigerator to cool before drizzling over the cheesecake. BTW, you won't need it all for the cheesecake, so you should probably buy some ice cream. It's REALLY good poured over vanilla in particular.