Going Off Book: Honey-Fig Goat Cheese Cheesecake
I remember when I first started this blog, talking about how one of my goals was to be able to create my own recipes, particularly for baking. Well, I’m not entirely there yet but I’m making progress. I still rely on other recipes for ratios, often deciding what I want to make and finding the components of it that I am unsure of from a number of the trillion recipes on the web. I’ve been tweaking recipes and experimenting with my own ideas a lot more lately, and for the most part have been successful! When it comes to baking, this is the first thing that I’ve made that I couldn’t send you a link to the recipe, or even send you a link and say ‘change this, that and this’.
The occasion? Emily’s birthday. The challenge? Emily does not like dessert… or perhaps more accurately she doesn’t like sweets… she likes cheese for dessert. And Em is especially fond of goat cheese. One of the best desserts I’ve ever had is the goat cheese cheesecake at Cha Bella in Savannah, and I’ve been wanting to try making one. I’m a big fan of figs and honey with goat cheese, so I decide to incorporate that. I also had some pecans on hand that I had toasted for a salad, so I decided to incorporate those as well. I was going for a lighter tasting, less sweet cheesecake, so I found alternatives for the refined white sugar you often see in the recipes and replaced it with alternatives.
The Verdict? It is not actually humanly possible to make a dessert that the birthday girl would like better than a straight block of chèvre, but we knew that from square. But she enjoyed it enough to finish a square (and when it comes to Em eating sweets, that is a great success!) and I liked it enough that I would make again, so I figured I should write down what I did before I forget.
For those of you who have asked (and those who haven’t!) here’s the recipe:
Crust:
- *1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- *1 cup wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup turbandino sugar
- 1/3 cup crushed toast pecans
*I think the crust would have been just as good using only wheat flour (or all white flour) — I just didn’t want to go too far from the beaten path the first attempt.
Filling:
- 12 ounces mild goat cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 6 large eggs, separated
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Topping:
- Dried Figs, sliced
- Honey for drizzling
To make the crust: Combine flour, baking powder, salt and crushed pecans in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat together butter and sugar until creamy, about 1-2 minutes; on low-speed, beat in flour mixture until just combined and crumbly. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan and gently press to form crust all the way up along the sides, fully lining the pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden around edges
To make the filling: Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the goat cheese with the granulated sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract; beat at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg yolks, 2 at a time. Finally beat in the flour at low-speed.
In another bowl beat the egg whites until firm (should create peaks when you remove the beater). Beat half of the whites into the goat cheese mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Distribute fig slices evenly across the top. Return to oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until just starting to get golden brown; a toothpick should come out clean.
Cool thoroughly before serving; I let sit overnight. Drizzle with honey before serving.
