buttermilk cheesecake... it doesn't get much better than this.

Welll... it started out as Brandon asking his dad to make his famous ragout... and then his homemade challah.. and then the whole family coming together for this big delicious dish. Well, me being the baker... I hate showing up to meals empty handed. I figured if his dad was going to show off his cooking talents, I wanted to show off my baking talents. (Though it was risky, considering I also decided to do this by making something I'd never made, or tasted, before.) But it was a risk I was willing to take. Like Lindsay said, a way to a man's heart is through his stomach... I feel like a way into anyone's heart is through their stomach.. so I wanted to try and win some people over with this one. I think it worked.

So I knew they liked cheesecake.. but I didn't want to do a boring plain cheesecake, but I also didn't want to get too crazy and make something people wouldn't like. I looked into mascarpone cheesecakes, ricotta cheesecakes, plain cheesecakes... and then it hit me - buttermilk! Brandon loves buttermilk! Why not see if it can be incorporated into a cheesecake! Sure enough, I found a few recipes online... granted, half of them were using the metric system (so I couldn't use those), and the others had no reviews... so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I figured I'd go for the one with the least amount of ingredients. I mean - simple is always better in the long run. To top it off, this particular recipe used cornmeal in the crust! What a great idea! Plus I felt the dessert tied into the Italian theme of the meal. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I topped the dessert with aged balsamic vinegar and macerated strawberries!)

So a few tips you need to know about cheesecakes before jumping into the recipe.

• once you start adding eggs to the batter, beat just to combine and no longer! beating the eggs to much will whip too much air into the batter, causing issues with the texture. If you want it to be creamy, then add eggs in one at a time, making sure the egg is incorporated before adding the next.. and then stop beating once they're combined!
  
• water baths help to aid in a consistant heat source in the oven. They aren't necessary in my opinion, though.. I say this because I don't use them and my cheesecakes have turned out fine... But in order to acheive the perfect results without the use of a water bath, you must focus on the oven temperature.
• Quickly dropping the temperature will cause cracking! You need to slowly bake the cheesecake in a lower temperature oven... and just as you slowly cook it, you need to slowly cool it. This will help prevent cracking and help aid in a creamier cheesecake!

Ok so now that you know my few pointers on cheesecakes - on to the recipe!

Buttermilk Cheesecake with Balsamic Strawberries
serves 12

Ingredients:

• 1c butter, room temperature (or 2 sticks)
• 1 1/2c graham cracker crumbs (you can buy these as crumbs in the baking aisle - i highly recommend doing this to save the time using the food processor, unless you like graham crackers and want to have the extras around!)
• 1/2c yellow cornmeal
• 1c + 2T granulated sugar
• 3 80z packages of cream cheese, room temp. (I used regular, but i'm sure you could use lowfat. just might affect the texture some.)
• grated zest of 2 lemons (recipe calls for 2, I only used 1 so not to overpower the flavor... and I used a meyer lemon - I much prefer their floral flavor!)
• 3/4c buttermilk (don't worry if it says lowfat - all buttermilk is lowfat- this is perfectly fine)
• 1t pure vanilla extract
• 4 eggs

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Set aside 1 stick of butter for cheesecake batter. Take other stick, use 2 tablespoons to butter a 9" or 10" springform pan (if you use a 9", batter will be thicker and you will need to bake the cheesecake longer). Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons.
3. Combine graham cracker crumbs, cornmeal, and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and mix thoroughly with a fork. Dump into prepared pan and press evenly along bottom and 1" up the sides. Its ok if its not perfect, Lindsay. Bake about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. It'll smell nice and fragrant and let you know its ready.
   
4. Cream remaining butter, remaining sugar, and cream cheese with lemon zest in large bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Its important for ingredients to be ROOM TEMPERATURE so lumps do not form! Make sure to scrape bottom of the bowl a few times while beating.. cream cheese likes to lurk near the bottom and then show itself when you're pouring the batter! Ok jokes aside... Once you've combined these ingredients and its nice and creamy, add the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Beat, occasionally scraping down the sides and bottom, until it is mixed well. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat slowly until just combined. DO NOT OVERBEAT!!
5. Pour batter into reserved crust and bake 25-30 minutes (maybe a little longer if using a smaller pan). Reduce heat to 300 degrees F and bake an additional 25-30 minutes (again, I think I left it in for 40 minutes at this temperature). Reduce heat again to 200 degrees F and bake until done. About 20 minutes. (and again, I think I baked it for at least 30 minutes at this temp.) You want the sides to be set and the very center to be SLIGHTLY jiggly. If its really jiggly, keep baking! Now - for the important part. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven! For at least 3 hours! Let it cool completely in the oven... this slow cooling process really helps I swear! Wow I really overuse the exclamation point.
   
6. Remove the cheesecake. Let cool completely at room temperature (it will still be slightly warm coming out of the oven). Cover, and then place in the fridge overnight to set.
   
7. When removing the sides of the pan, you may want to run a knife around the edge if you're worried at all about the cheesecake sticking. And a tip for slicing cheesecake... have a glass of boiling hot water and soak a sharp knife in it. Dry the hot knife on a tea towel and slice. Do this between each slice and you'll have perfectly sliced cheesecake!

Macerated Balsamic Strawberries:
serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2lbs strawberries
• 1/4c sugar (i used combination of raw and granualted)
• 1T aged balsamic vinegar
• 1T freshly squeezed lemon juice
  

Directions:

1. Wash and slice strawberries... however you want to slice them.
2. Place strawberries in a large bowl, sprinkle sugar on top and stir to combine. Stir in the lemon juice (I used about half a lemon and squeezed it over the strawberries). Next drizzle the balsamic over the strawberries and stir. Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
   
3. Once the juices have started to come out, you can place it in the fridge or leave them out a few more hours. I would suggest doing this the day you serve the cheesecake and no sooner! Once these have sat around for about a day, the strawberries start to get mushy.

So make the cheesecake the day before, make the strawberries a couple hours before... spoon them over the slices and voila! You have cheesecake! I also drizzled a little aged balsamic over the slices of cheesecake when I served it..

Ok - that was a long post. I hope it was worth it for someone because its really really good!

Enjoy!
Lauren