Creamy dessert pleases ‘very picky cheesecake eater’

“I loved it,” Times Leader page designer and taste tester Ashley Bringmann said after sampling cheesecake from the Times Leader test kitchen. “I thought, ‘ooh, lemony.’ I enjoyed that.” “I had the same reaction,” reporter Margaret Roarty said. “I really loved it, and with the berries, it’s very, very good.” Yes, this is one lemony cheesecake. And for taste tester Jamie Hartmann from the advertising department, it was too lemony. “It’s very zesty,” she said with a tiny grimace. But others seemed to be lovin’ that lemon flavor, which came from 2 teaspoons of lemon zest in the cheesecake and a bit of lemon juice in the berry mix. News editor Liz Baumeister, who describes herself as “a very picky cheesecake eater” said she was happy with this one, and with the addition of the fruit topping. “I think without the fruit it would have been too rich for me,” she said, adding “I really liked the crust.” The crust is made from toasted almonds, sugar, salt, butter and matzo cake meal. I made it in honor of Passover, which began before sundown on Monday and continues until sundown April 30. When Mark and I were covering the community seder at the Friedman JCC in Kingston on Monday, I told Barbara Sugarman, the always friendly and helpful Director for Adult & Cultural Services, about my intention to reprise a cheesecake I’d made in the Time Leader test kitchen in 2022. Back then she’d read and approved all the ingredients in the recipe I’d found at food.com, saying they were fine for Passover. And she cautioned me not to use canned fruit, which might contain cornstarch. So last time around I used fresh strawberries. This time around, for the topping I had a medley of fresh berries, mashed some of them with lemon juice and sugar, and kept some of the berries whole. The odd thing about the original cheesecake recipe that I spotted in 2022 and saw again online this week, is that it lists “8 tablespoons of butter” as an ingredient in the filling rather than the crust. Looking back, I wonder why that threw me for such a wacky loop. I dutifully put the butter in the filling, and while that extra rich filling pleased several of my taste testers, the crust was oddly crumbly and falling apart. Now, with the passage of time, I’ve realized the 8 tablespoons of butter belong in the crust. So that’s where I put them this year, with the result being a crust that held together well. As for this year’s filling, which must be less rich than the one I made two years ago, news editor Liz assured me it didn’t seem to be missing anything. Other taste testers who tried a sample and gave me a thumbs up include TL columnist Bill O’Boyle, who wants me to stop wrecking his diet; my fellow King’s College alum Mary Spencer Fisque, whom I encountered on Wednesday in the church office where she works; my mom and my husband, for whom a slice with a candle served as his birthday cake this week. Here is the recipe, from food.com — except I’ve moved the 8 tablespoons of butter from the filling ingredients into the crust ingredients, where it makes more sense. Almond Crust 3/4 cup sliced blanched almond, toasted and cooled 2/3 cup sugar 2/3 cup matzo cake meal 1⁄4 teaspoon salt 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly Lemon Cheesecake Filling 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup sugar 3 large eggs 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Make crust: Preheat oven to 350F with rack in middle. Pulse almonds, sugar, matzo cake meal, and salt in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl and stir in butter until combined well. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of springform pan. Bake until crust is firm and a shade darker, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool crust completely in pan on a rack. Make filling and bake cheesecake: Reduce oven temperature to 300°F Beat together cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs 1 at a time, mixing until incorporated. Mix in zest and vanilla. Put springform pan in a shallow baking pan and pour filling into cooled crust. Bake until filling is set 1 1/2 inches from edge but center is wobbly, 45 to 50 minutes (filling will continue to set as it cools). Transfer cake in pan to a rack and immediately run a knife around edge, then remove side of pan. Cool completely, 2 to 3 hours.