SANTA FE CHEESECAKE

By jarren

Ingredients

• 2 cups (500 mL) tortilla chips
• 3 jalapenos peppers
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 large or 2 small shallots
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) finely chopped fresh coriander
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) grated old cheddar
• 2 (8-oz/250-g) pkgs cream cheese, cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) regular sour cream
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) chili powder
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) freshly ground black pepper
• 2 eggs
• Salsa, green onions and avocado for garnish

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 25mins
Cooking time 60mins
Adapted from chatelaine.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Lightly spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch (23-cm) springform pan with vegetable oil. Coarsely crush tortilla chips. Spread out in bottom of pan, but don¿t flatten them out. Bake in center of preheated oven until chips are a deep golden color, from 7 to 10 minutes. Place pan on a wire rack to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325 F (160 C ).

Seed and finely mince jalapenos. Core and seed red pepper, then dice into tiny pieces. Finely chop shallot and mince garlic. Combine in a small bowl. Stir in coriander and cheese.

Place cream cheese, sour cream, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer set at high, beat until well mixed, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add eggs and continue beating until smooth, about 2 more minutes. Beat in jalapeno mixture just until evenly distributed.

Scrape mixture into pan over tortilla chips that have cooled to room temperature. Mixture will not be high, this is a thin cheesecake. Bake in center of 325 F (160 C) oven until center of cheesecake is just set, from 25 to 30 minutes. Immediately turn oven off. Leave cheesecake in the oven with door ajar 1 hour. Then remove from oven. Run a knife around inside of pan to loosen cake from pan, but do not remove sides of pan. Refrigerate, uncovered until chilled, at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Remove sides of pan. Slice cheesecake into wedges and serve with fresh chunky salsa, green onions and avocado slices.