Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (26 page)

CRUST

7 ounces (about 15 tissue-paper packages with 2 1½ -inch macaroons in each package) Amaretti di Saronno, Lazzaroni & Company (see Note)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 ounce (1 square) unsweetened chocolate

2½ ounces (5 tablespoons) sweet butter

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter the sides only (not the bottom) of a 9-inch spring-form pan which may be 2½ or 3 inches deep.

The Amaretti must be ground very fine. Place them in a food processor bowl fitted with the steel blade, or in a blender. (In a blender you may have to do them half at a time.) Process or blend until you have made fine crumbs. You should have 1⅓ to 1½ cups of crumbs. Place the crumbs in a mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar.

Place the chocolate and the butter in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Stir occasionally until melted.

Add the melted chocolate and butter to the Amaretti crumbs and sugar and stir to mix thoroughly.

Turn the mixture into the prepared pan. With your fingers distribute it evenly over the bottom of the pan and then, with your fingers, press it firmly over the bottom. It must be a very firm, compact layer and should be on the bottom only, not the sides.

Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

FILLING

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

7 ounces (about 15 tissue-paper packages with 2 1½-inch macaroons in each package) Amaretti di Saronno, Lazzaroni & Company (see Note)

4 ounces almond paste (see Note)

⅓ cup Amaretto di Saronno liqueur (see Note)

24 ounces (3 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

4 eggs (graded large or extra-large)

½ cup heavy cream

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted, then uncover and stir until completely melted. Remove the top of the double boiler and set it aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.

Place the Amaretti in their tissue-paper wrappings on a cutting board. With the broad side of a heavy cleaver (or a hammer) hit each package hard enough to break the macaroons coarsely but not hard enough to tear the paper. Then unwrap the broken macaroons and place them in a bowl and set aside.

Cut the almond paste into very small pieces and place it in the small bowl of an electric mixer. While beating on low speed, very gradually add the Amaretto liqueur and beat until thoroughly mixed. Remove from the mixer and set aside.

In the large bowl of the electric mixer (you can
use the same beaters again without washing them), beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Add the sugar and beat until smooth again. Then add the almond paste Amaretto mixture and beat once again until thoroughly mixed. Add the melted chocolate and beat well once more. Set the mixer at low speed and add the eggs one at a time and beat only until they are incorporated after each addition. Add the heavy cream and beat only until smooth.

(This cheesecake should not be beaten until it is light and airy.) Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Add the coarsely broken macaroons and stir together gently only to mix.

Turn into the prepared pan, pouring the mixture over the bottom crust.

Rotate the pan gently, first in one direction, then the other, to level the batter. If you have used a pan that is 2½ inches deep the cheesecake mixture will come almost to the top of the pan. It is O.K.; it will not run over.

Bake for 45 minutes. It will seem soft and not done but do not bake any longer; it will become firm when it is chilled. Remove from the oven.

The top of the cake will look bumpy because of the large chunks of Amaretti; it is supposed to.

Set aside and let stand at room temperature until completely cool. Then carefully remove the sides of the pan.

Refrigerate the cake, which is still on the bottom of the pan, for 4 to 6 hours or overnight.

Now the cake can be left on the bottom of the pan (in which case it should be set on a folded napkin on a cake plate to keep it from sliding when you serve it). Or it can be removed from the bottom of the pan and transferred to a cake plate or a serving board. To remove it from the pan, carefully insert a sharp, heavy, firm knife between the cake and the pan, pressing the blade firmly against the pan in order not to cut the crust. Gently rotate the knife around the pan to release the cake. Use a flat-sided cookie sheet as a spatula (or use two wide metal spatulas), slide it (or them) under the crust, carefully lift the cake and transfer it to the cake plate. Or if you want to freeze the cake (this freezes wonderfully) transfer it to a large piece of plastic wrap and wrap airtight.

This may be served as is, or topped with a pile of Chocolate Cigarettes (see page 267) or Chocolate Shavings (see page 263).

Serve the cake refrigerated, the colder the better. Serve small portions.

NOTE
:
Amaretto di Saronno liqueur is generally available at any well-stocked liquor store.

Almond paste is available (generally in 8-ounce cans) in specialty food stores.

Amaretti di Saronno, Lazzaroni & Company, macaroons, are generally available at fine specialty food stores or good Italian markets. They can be bought at, or ordered by mail from, Manganaro Foods, 488 Ninth Avenue, New York, New York 10018. Manganaro has a catalog. Or, Williams-Sonoma, P.O. Box 3792, San Francisco, California 94119.

Chocolate-Marbleized Cheesecake

8 TO 10
P
ORTIONS

A silky smooth and custardlike marbleized cheesecake, rather small and elegant. It should be made very early in the day for that night (it must chill well) or the day before, or make it way ahead and freeze it.

CRUST

4 ounces chocolate wafer cookies, or any crisp chocolate or chocolate nut cookies (or you can bake your own—use Chocolate Wafers, page 129, or Old-Fashioned Chocolate Sugar Cookies, page 130)

1 ounce (2 tablespoons) sweet butter, melted

Separate the sides from the bottom of an 8 × 2½-or 3-inch spring-form pan. Butter the sides only. (If the bottom is not buttered the finished cake can be transferred easily to a cake plate.) Then replace the bottom in the pan and set aside.

The cookies must be ground to crumbs. Either break them into pieces and grind them all at once in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, or grind the pieces about half at a time in a blender, or place them in a heavy plastic bag and pound and roll them with a rolling pin until they are fine. You should have 1 cup of crumbs.

In a mixing bowl add the melted butter to the crumbs and stir well with a rubber spatula, pressing against the mixture with the spatula until the butter is evenly distributed. You will think there is not enough butter, but do not add more—the mixture should be dry and crumbly.

Pour the crumb mixture into the prepared pan. With your fingertips distribute it evenly over the bottom of the pan and then press it firmly to make a smooth, compact layer on the bottom only. Refrigerate.

CHEESE MIXTURE

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs (graded large)

2 cups sour cream

Pinch of salt

Adjust rack one-third up from bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Break up the chocolate and place it in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted, then uncover and stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove the top of the double boiler and set aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese until very smooth. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat to mix. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating until smooth after each addition. Then add 1½ cups (reserve remaining ½ cup) of the sour cream and the salt and beat until smooth.

Remove from the mixer and set aside 1½ cups of the mixture.

In the small bowl of the mixer (you can use the same beaters) mix the melted chocolate with the reserved ½ cup sour cream; then add the reserved 1½ cups of cheese mixture and beat until smooth.

Place the two batters, alternating colors, by spoonfuls over the chilled crust in the pan; use large rather than small spoonfuls (or pour the batters)—you will have roughly three varicolored layers.

Then use the face side (not the edge) of a small, thin, metal spatula or a table knife to marbleize the mixtures. Cut down through the batters and use the spatula or knife to swirl the batter into large spirals and/or zig-zags and form an attractive pattern. But do not overdo it or you will lose the contrast between the two batters.

Briskly rotate the pan a bit first in one direction, then the other, to level the top of the cheese mixtures.

Bake for 30 minutes. It will seem soft but it is done.

Remove to a rack and let stand to cool to room temperature.

Refrigerate for at least 5 or 6 hours or longer.

This should be cold when it is served. It will become firm when adequately chilled. When just right it should be slightly soft and custardlike in the middle.

Carefully, with a small, sharp knife cut around the sides to release, then remove the sides of the pan. Now, use a firm (not flexible) metal spatula (either a wide one or a long, narrow one). Insert the spatula gently and carefully under the crust and ease it around to release the cake completely from the bottom of the pan. With a wide spatula (or using a flat-sided cookie sheet as a spatula) carefully transfer the cake to a serving plate.

New York City Chocolate Cheesecake

10 TO 16
P
ORTIONS

CRUST

8 ounces chocolate wafers (The bought ones are sometimes called icebox wafers. Better yet, make your own Chocolate Wafers, page 129.)

3 ounces (¾ stick) sweet butter

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Separate the bottom from the sides of a 9 × 3-inch spring form pan; butter the sides only (if you butter the bottom the crust will stick to the bottom and it will be difficult to serve), and then replace the bottom in the pan and set aside.