CRUST
7 oz amaretti (see note)
2 tbsp granulated sugar
5 tbsp sweet butter
1 oz chocolate, unsweetened (1 square)
FILLING
6 oz chocolate, semisweet
7 oz amaretti
4 oz almond paste
1/3 cup amaretto liqueur
1/4 cup sugar, granulated
1 1/2 lb cream cheese (room temperature)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
Directions
MAKE CRUST: Butter the sides only (not the bottom) of a 9-inch
spring-form pan (about 2 1/2 to 3 inches deep). Grind the Amaretti
very fine in a food processor or blender. Mix with sugar in a mixing
bowl.
Melt the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler, stirring
occasionally. Add the melted mixture to the Amaretti crumbs and
sugar and mix thoroughly. (Don't wash the double boiler; you'll be
using it again in a minute.)
Turn the mixture into the prepared pan. With your fingers,
distribute it evenly over the bottom and press it down into a very
firm, compact layer. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
MAKE FILLING: Adjust rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven and
preheat to 350 degrees F. Partially melt chocolate in the top of a
double boiler, then uncover and stir until completely melted. Remove
the top of the double boiler and set aside to cool.
Break the Amaretti coarsely into a bowl and set aside. Cut the almond
paste into small pieces, and beat on low speed with an electric
mixer, while gradually adding the Amaretto liqueur. Beat until
thoroughly mixed and set aside.
Beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the
sugar and beat until smooth again. Add the almond paste-Amaretto
mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add the melted chocolate and
beat well again. Add the eggs one at a time, beating at low speed
until they are incorporated after each addition. Add the heavy cream
and beat until smooth. Add the coarsely broken Amaretti and stir
gently only to mix.
Turn into the prepared pan, pouring the mixture over the bottom crust.
Rotate the pan gently to level the batter. (Don't worry if the mixture
comes almost to the top; it won't run over.)
Bake 45 minutes. It will seem soft and not done, but don't bake any
more; it will become firm when chilled. The top of the cake is
supposed to look bumpy because of the large chunks of Amaretti. Let
cool completely at room temperature, then carefully remove the sides
of the pan and refrigerate the cake (still on the bottom of the pan)
for 4 to 6 hours, or overnight.
NOTES:
* This is adapted from Maida Heatter's "Book of Great Chocolate
Desserts," (Knopf 1980). It won me a blue ribbon at the Martha's
Vineyard Agricultural Exhibition and Fair in 1983. If you ever find
yourself in front of a firing squad, this makes an unbeatable last
request.
* Amaretti are Italian almond-flavored wafer cookies. They are
usually sold in metal tins with the wafers wrapped in packages of two
inside the tin. You can also buy Amarettini, which are the same
flavor but much smaller and not individually wrapped. Since you're
going to grind some of the wafers and break the others into chunks,
it doesn't matter which size you start with. One brand is Amaretti di
Saronna, Lazzaroni & Co.
* This is an expensive cake, both in terms of the cost of the
ingredients ($15-$20) and the number of calories.
: Difficulty: moderate to hard.
: Time: 30 minutes preparation, 45 minutes baking, overnight cooling.
: Precision: measure ingredients carefully.
: Jan Wolitzky
: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA
: ihnp4!mhuxd!wolit
: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust
Servings: 16 servings
Amaretto Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Alcohol; Cheesecake; Chocolate; Chocolate Cake; Dessert
The History of Recipes
Written cooking instructions as an idea can be found far back into the far past, in fact as far back as the ancient Egyptians, and maybe further still. However, generally, these old cook books were just primitive hieroglyphic instructions for preparing food.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe found, according to experts is a collection of tablets in ancient Sumerian which recount the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made drinkers feel `exhilarated, wonderful and blissful`. During Roman times around 25BC a roman called Apicius created a collection of scripts showing how to cook the recipes enjoyed by the Romans. In his works, Apicius tells us how the meals were separated into appetizers, main meal and dessert, a style of dining still practiced today. Additionally, he describes how the early Romans were skilled in the use of many different spices, including a few that will be familiar to modern chefs like bay, fennel and asafoetida. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years there were some books which date from the fourteenth century ; a recipe book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these two books are unconnected to the indian food that is popular today, but instead accounts of the types of food prepared by the chefs of the upper classes of the period. In the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought us a variety of spices and herbs from the Middle-East, including basil and coriander. The introduction of these new foods and spices created an eruption in recipe publications, many of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. By the arrival of the 20th century, cookery books are greatly in demand mostly due to increased literacy, more leisure time and disposable income. |
We hope you enjoy this Amaretto Chocolate Cheesecake recipe.
