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Cheesecake.

A pretty darn delicious, boozy, silky cheesecake! It’s another French Fridays with Dorie recipe and one that I have been wanting to make for awhile…. in fact, I finally broke down and made this because I wanted to test it before Thanksgiving, for which I plan to make a second one.

I chose to make the sweet tart dough for this because I was certain that the savory tartness of the cheese was going to shine through pretty strongly, so I was trying to offset it and really, it wound up being unnecessary, but it did offset the cognac …. I accidentally put about a half teaspoon too much – and you could tell! But it still tastes pretty darn tasty! It was just as rich, if not a tich  more, than regular NYC style baked cheesecake – I couldn’t get to the end! But I am very happy with how it turned out, flavor-wise.

The only hang-up for me, was that I checked the cheesecake about 15 minutes in and decided to cover it with a foil tent to keep it from getting too dark on the surface, and then checked it about three minutes before it was done, and the knife came out clean, so I pulled it out and let it rest and since the top had not puffed up, the top didn’t deflate as Dorie said it would. I think it might have also just over-beaten the egg whites which would account for the lack of rise in the crust. This also affected the height of the crust, I made sure to put the tart dough flesh to the top of the springform pan and since the tourteau didn’t rise, there was a bit at the top that was craggly, giving it a rustic quality that just elevated the entire experience.

All in all, even though a little bit too much vanilla and cognac were added, this cheesecake is something that I am interested in trying with many different goat cheeses to see how different ones will affect the flavor. Some of the other Doristas got fancy with zesting and put in different citrus zest that struck a chord with me – I want to try that too!

One of my favorite things to do when I go to my absolute favorite grocery store, a few towns over is to stop at the cheese counter, and we tend to walk away with a selection of cheeses – 100 grams each, to try and we pick out some pears, apples and Carr’s crackers to have them with – and recently different salami’s also and over the past two years that we have been here we have developed a certain taste for a few that we can hardly leave without; one of them being the Rosary Goat Cheese – so finding a goat cheese for this recipe was pretty easy. There was no debate. It was going to be the Rosary Goat. It is a soft goat cheese that comes in a log and we bought at least a third of the log, and an extra bit more that fell off of the log to put in the tourteau. It was two of my favorite things. Cheesecake and the Rosary Goat Cheese! I think I might want to try a pear chutney or sauce, laced with honey to pour on top of my next one. I can’t wait to see how many different ways I can make this special for every occassion that I bake this for.

To check out how the other Doristas fared, click here. If you are drooling and would like to join our little group, click here and get yourself a copy of Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table and join in the delicious fun!

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