Prune And Walnut Cheesecake Recipes

PRUNE AND WALNUT CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Place the prunes, half the lemon juice and zest, the cinnamon stick, and bay leaves in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, then almost immediately turn down the heat to simmer for 3 - 4 minutes. Cool and let this stand overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Butter the base and sides of a 10-inch square or round baking pan.
• Cut the brioche into cubes and place in a food processor with the walnuts, then process until finely chopped.
• Put the brioche and walnut mixture in a large bowl with the nutmeg, melted butter, and 1/4 cup sugar.
• Mix well and press the mixture gently over the base of the buttered baking pan.
• Refrigerate until firm.
• To make the filling, beat the cheeses together with the remaining lemon juice and zest, the remaining sugar, and the eggs (add the latter one by one, beating well in between to combine evenly).
• Drain the prunes and cut them into small pieces. Place them all over the cheesecake base, then pour over the filling, smoothing the top.
• Bake for about an hour, until the filling has set. Cool completely before serving.

PRUNE AND WALNUT CRECENTS

Steps:

• Make pastry dough:
• Pulse butter, cream cheese, sugar, salt, and flour in a food processor just until a dough forms. (Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.)
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough and form into 2 balls, then flatten each ball into a 6-inch disk. Chill disks, each wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Make filling:
• Pulse walnuts, prunes, sugar, cinnamon, and Sherry in food processor until nuts are finely chopped and filling forms a thick paste.
• Form and bake crescents:
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Roll out 1 disk of dough (keep the other chilled) into a roughly 14-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Cut out rounds with floured cookie cutter. Chill scraps.
• Put 1/2 teaspoon of filling in center of 1 dough round. Brush some of egg wash halfway around pastry, near edge, then fold dough over filling, forming a half-moon shape. Pinch edges to seal. Make more crescents in same manner, rerolling scraps (but only once).
• Arrange crescents 1/2 inch apart on 2 buttered large baking sheets and lightly brush tops with egg wash. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in middle of oven until tops are pale golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool.

MAPLE WALNUT CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350.
• Wrap bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan with a double layer of foil.
• In food processor grind crumbs, walnuts and brown sugar till fine. Add the melted butter till nicely blended. Press into the bottom of pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
• To prepare filling beat cream cheese on medium speed till smooth. Blend in the maple syrup. Add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, flour and cream until just blended. Do not overbeat. Pour into the baked crust. (Note: I did all my mixing in my food processor) Set the springform pan in a large roasting pan and place on rack in center of oven. Pour boiling water into roasting pan until it is about halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until set but still jiggly in the middle.
• I turn the oven off at this point and remove the cake from the roaster pan. I remove the roaster pan from the oven but leave the cake in there, with the door open, to cool. I've read that this helps prevent the cracking that sometimes happens while the cake cools. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, covered. Carefully remove the sides of the pan. Drizzle with Maple Cream Sauce and top with Maple Whipped Cream. Garnish with some extra chopped walnuts, if desired.
• MAPLE WHIPPED CREAM DIRECTIONS:.
• In a chilled bowl whip the cold whipping cream with the maple syrup till fluffy.
• MAPLE CREAM SAUCE DIRECTIONS:.
• Combine syrup, cream and butter in a medium saucepan. Stir to blend and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, continue boiling stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. This mixture can boil quite high so be very watchful of it and reduce heat a bit if necessary. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.