Let’s Cook! Blueberry Mascarpone Cheesecake

Recently Miss Bonnie and I were invited to a soiree over the Memorial Day weekend, and of course, we had to bring along some consumables to the event. Trying to decide on what to take, I recalled that one day the week prior was National Blueberry Cheesecake Day (see “Look at that S car go!” for more fun food days…) and with a recipe for same in “Cat Cora’s Classic with a Twist” cookbook, well the choice was obvious.

As a bit of an aside, my few Dedicated Readers may recall that I had the good fortune to stalk… wait… I mean meet… the diminutive Iron Chef during last year’s Food and Wine Festival at Epcot.

If you’re just dying to see more of me with celeb chefs you can visit (or re-visit) these posts: “Who’s that strange man trying to fondle an Iron Chef” and “Rubbing elbows…”

Now let’s move away from talking about me and move on to the actual food…

So from my personally autographed copy of the cookbook….

okay… guess that was sorta about me again… sorry…

I made a little bit of a change to the original recipe (based on the size container of mascarpone the grocery carried), but other than that I made it pretty much according to the book, so now, let’s cook!

Blueberry Mascarpone Cheesecake

Ingredients

Butter (to grease the pan)

8 oz Mascarpone Cheese, softened

12 oz Cream Cheese, softened

3/4 cup plus about 2 tbls Sugar (plus a bit more for the pan)

2 tsps grated Lemon Zest (you’ll probably need two lemons for this)

1.5 tsp fresh Lemon Juice

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (the real stuff please)

3 large Eggs

3 tbl All-Purpose Flour

2 cups Blueberries, fresh (in season now!) or frozen (thawed)

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position rack in middle of the oven. Take a 9″ springform pan (or a 9″ diameter 2″ deep round cake pan) and grease lightly with the butter. Dust with some of the extra sugar and tilt the pan around to coat. Discard any excess sugar.

In a large bowl combine the two cheeses, 3/4 cup of the sugar, 1 teaspoon of the zest, the juice and the vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium until smooth. Scrape down the sides once or twice. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well each time.

Turn the mixer to low and add the flour. Scrape the bowl down to be sure the flour is well incorporated into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Smooth the top a bit and pop in the heated oven. Set your timer for 35 minutes.

When the timer goes off give it a check – if it’s looking a bit brown on top and it’s not too “squiggly”, stick a dry toothpick in and if it comes out clean it’s time to take it out… if not ready give it a little more time and check again… depending on your oven it may take more like 40 – 45 minutes.

Set on a rack and let cool 15 or 20 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the cheesecake and remove the sides of the springform pan (or if using a regular pan, set a plate on top and invert the cake onto the plate).

The cheesecake will settle a bit, and here made a nice rim to hold the topping!

Allow to cool completely – refrigerate if it’s going to be a while before serving.

To make the topping mix the blueberries, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the remaining lemon zest.

Mash a few of the berries to release some of the juices and stir well. Allow to set for a while as the cheesecake cools. Taste and add more sugar and/or zest if desired. This can be made a day or two ahead and stuck into the fridge, and I think is probably better if you have the time.

To serve, spoon the blueberries on top of the cheesecake if you want to make a pretty presentation of the whole thing, then slice and serve at the table – otherwise you can slice and add the topping to the individual slices. Miss Bonnie highly recommends a good amount of the juice from the berries!

Cat notes that you can also add a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and/or some whipped cream if desired… both would be nice, but I think not really necessary.

I’m thinking just a bit of some sort of liqueur might be nice added to the berries if you so desire, but I haven’t figured out exactly what type yet… any ideas dear Dedicated Readers?

So this was met with good responses from our victims… ehhh… fellow diners, and I thought it turned out quite good, even if I do say so myself (like I should be taking the credit for it – you go Chef Cora!).

Give it a try yourself… now back to the kitchen!