Three-Cheese Cheesecake

By LisaMK

This recipe is from Food and Wine magazine. Makes a great summer dessert for a party, picnic or barbecue! This recipe calls for amaretti cookies in the crust. You can use my recipe or just purchase them. Either way, it makes a great crust.

Ingredients

• Topping:
• Crust: 3 oz amaretti cookies (roughly about 20)
• 2 oz honey graham crackers (roughly about 4 whole sheets)coarsely crushed
• salt
• 5 tbs unsalted butter, melted
• Cake: 1 tsp unflavored powdered gelatin
• 3/4 c heavy cream, cold
• 2 8 oz pkgs. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 c ricotta cheese
• 3/4 c sugar
• salt
• 1/4 c mascarpone cheese or sour cream
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 3/4 honey
• 3 long rosemary sprigs
• 6 oz dried apricots

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 210mins

Preparation

Step 1

Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse the cookies and crackers and salt until finely ground. Transfer crumbs to a small bowl and stir in the butter. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and halfway up the sides of an 8 inch springform pan. Bake for about 10 mins, until the crust is set. Cool on a rack.
Cheesecake:
In a microwave dish, sprinkle the gelatin powder over 2 tbs of cold water. Let stand until gelatin is softened, about 10 mins. In a small bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form; refrigerate.
Apricot topping:
In medium saucepan, combine the honey with 3 cups of water and rosemary. Bring to a boil and cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the honey is dissolved. Add the apricots and simmer until tender, about 10 mins. Transfer the apricots to a bowl. Boil the rosemary syrup until thickened, roughly 20 to 25 mins. Strain the syrup over the apricots and let cool.
Remove the cheesecake from the pan and serve with the apricot topping.