Jamie's America
By Jamie Oliver
My NYC cheesecake
1 hr 30 mins plus cooling
Not Too Tricky
serves 10
About the recipe
Cheesecake and New York go hand-in-hand, so I just had to include this. I've been working on the recipe for quite a while, and finally perfected it during this trip. I've swapped full-fat cream cheese for a low-fat version to make my cheesecake slightly less calorific. A word of warning, though: use ‘low-fat’ or ‘light’ cream cheese rather than ‘fat-free’ as the fat-free version will behave differently and won’t give the results you’re looking for.
Recipe From
Ingredients
350g digestive biscuits
120g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
900g light or low-fat cream cheese, softened
150g caster sugar
5 large free-range eggs
juice of 6 limes (approx. 125ml)
1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways and seeds scraped out, or 1 tablespoon good-quality vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 lime
MERINGUE TOPPING
3 large free-range egg whites (the yolks can be used for making scrambled eggs)
110g caster sugar
40g desiccated coconut
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/310°F/gas 2½ and grease a 24cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Put your biscuits into a food processor and whiz until you’ve got really fine crumbs, then mix in your melted butter. If you don’t have a food processor, just wrap your biscuits in a tea towel and bash them up with a rolling pin until fine. Spread the biscuit mixture around the base of your greased tin, making sure you get it right to the edges, then press it with your hands to pack it down. Place the tin on a baking sheet and pop it into the fridge while you make the filling.
- Whiz the cream cheese in a food processor until smooth, then gradually add the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Pour in the lime juice and vanilla seeds or extract and whiz again until just combined. Again, if you don’t have a food processor, just do this by hand. Don’t worry if the mixture seems too thin – it’s supposed to be like that. Tip it over your chilled biscuit base, spread it out evenly, and bake in the oven for around 45 to 55 minutes – you want the cheesecake to still have a slight loose wobble. Remove from the oven and set aside for 15 minutes to cool slightly. Turn the oven up to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
- To make the meringue topping, put your egg whites into a clean bowl and beat until they form soft peaks – an electric whisk is quite handy here. Gradually add the caster sugar and beat until thick and glossy. Finally, fold in the coconut. Spoon this meringue mixture on to the middle of the cooled cheesecake and spread it to the edges, using the back of a spoon, so it just covers the filling. It should be about 2cm thick. I like to make a few ripples and peaks in the top so it looks impressive. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, or until the meringue is starting to turn golden in colour and is crisp to touch. Let it cool down, then place it in the fridge for a few hours (this is important) to chill before serving.
- Carefully remove it from the tin, transfer it to a nice platter and sprinkle over the lime zest. Really nice served with mango, strawberries and raspberries when they’re in season.
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