Looking for a dessert that will impress your holiday guests? The Executive Chef of Scarpetta on Rittenhouse Square shared his cheesecake recipe, one of the most popular desserts on the menu.
Mandarin Creme Fraiche Cheesecake
Ingridients
12 ounces Cream Cheese
6 ounces Creme fraiche
2 Eggs
Cup Sugar
1 vanilla pod
Instructions
Mix thoroughly and set aside
1 cup brown sugar
4 cup graham crackers
Instructions
Press into bottom of spring form pan. Pour cake batter over crust.
Chef Tip: Be sure to completely smooth out the surface of the cheesecake so you have a level top
Bake at 250 degrees for 45 min/ rotate gently and bake another 20 min. Cool & then refrigerate
Mandarin Glee:
Squeeze 1 pint mandarins
Bloom 8 sheets gelatin
Boil mandarin juice with cup sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat and add gelatin. Cool to 100 degrees F. Pour glaze onto fully chilled cheesecake
Fig Compote:
1 cup chopped dried black mission figs
1 cup chopped pears
1 cup Simple syrup
Cook until reduced. Food process the compote.
Meringue Cookies:
Make an Italian meringue by beating egg white and sugar until stiff peaks form. Bake at 180F for 1.5 hours. Crumble into little slivers
Peach sorbet:
cup sugar
Batch freeze in ice cream machine for 15 minutes
To Plate:
For each serving of cheesecake, sprinkle powdered sugar onto 5 raspberries.
Chef Tip: Do this off the plate because it's messy. Add sesame seeds to your powdered sugar shaker to ensure it evenly 'snows' on the raspberries
Add the raspberries to the top of your cheesecake, working diagonally from end to end. Then add the extras to either side. Top raspberries with little pieces of meringue cookies to give some crunch
Beside the cheesecake, add a mound of brown butter crumble. Chef Tip: This is like the topping that goes on apple crumb pie & it serves as bed for your sorbet
Scoop a ball of the sorbet and place it on top of the crumble
Chef Tip: A lot of professional chefs warm up the bottom of the ice cream scoop so it releases cleanly on the plate.
Top with a sprig of micro mint. Add a quarter inch swirl of your fig compote on both sides of the cheesecake & serve.
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210 W Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103