Tiramisu Cheesecake

I’m a bit late, but hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving holiday! I’ve been crazed lately and my time in the kitchen has been limited. You can tell with the lack of posts in my blog, but I’m back (sort of). I’m off on staycation this week, so I will have some time to update. My sister is also coming over sometime next weekend or the following to bake cookies. I’m already looking up recipes.

There hasn’t been many blog worthy recipes made in my kitchen lately, so the next few posts will be all about Thanksgiving.

My sister and I were thinking up desserts to make for Thanksgiving. I knew pumpkin pie would be one of them, but I was still pondering the other. The thought of cheesecake always comes up, but I didn’t want to make a pumpkin cheesecake when there was another pumpkin dessert already. Last year, my sister made tiramisu and I made a New York Cheesecake. Then I thought of combining them together. Hey, why not. I wasn’t sure if it had been done before, but I ended up finding a good one.

My company was also looking for volunteers to bring dishes for our company potluck, so it was a great way to try this out first. Of course also to use up ingredients as well, since my tub of mascarpone cheese was double the amount I needed for 1 cheesecake.

I made this bite sized version for work and it was a big hit. The whole recipe made 72 little bite sized servings.

Right before serving these, I added some unsweetened cocoa powder on top.

For Thanksgiving day, I made it in my 10” springform pan. The recipe called for an 8 or 9” springform, but I only have a 10”. The baking time called for 40-45 minutes, and I checked at 35 minutes, but it still seemed runny. I left it in for the 45 minutes and a giant crack formed on the top of my cake.

I think 40 minutes would have been sufficient. To cover it up, I whipped up a cup of heavy whipping cream for a few seconds in my KA mixer, spread it on top and shaved some chocolate on top.

As for the ingredient alterations, I couldn’t find a 12 oz package of ladyfingers, but the 7 oz package I had was more than enough for the crust. I also used brewed espresso instead of coffee liqueur. I adjusted the amount of coffee needed based on the alterations as well.

Tiramisu Cheesecake
adapted from: allrecipes.com
printable recipe

ingredients:
1 (7 ounce) package ladyfingers 
3 tablespoons butter, melted 
7 tablespoons brewed espresso, divided (more or less according to your taste)
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) container mascarpone cheese
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate or unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place a pan of water on the bottom of oven.

Crush the package of ladyfingers to fine crumbs (I used my food processor for this). Mix the melted butter into the crumbs. Moisten with 3 tablespoons of the coffee. Press into an 8 or 9 inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar until very smooth. Add 4 tablespoons coffee, and mix. Add the eggs and the flour; mix SLOWLY until just smooth. The consistency of the mascarpone can vary. If the cheesecake batter is too thick, add a little cream. Do not overmix at this point. Pour batter into crust.

Place pan on middle rack of oven. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until just set. Open oven door, and turn off the heat. Leave cake to cool in oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and let it finish cooling. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Right before serving, grate the semi-sweet chocolate overtop.

To make bite sized versions:

Preheat oven to 325° F. No water bath is needed for this. Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners.

Prepare crust as directed. Measure 1 tsp of the crust into each cup.

Prepare batter as directed. Using a cookie scoop, measure about 1 TBSP batter into each cup. Lightly tap  the pan on the counter to even out the batter in each cup. I will be filled to the top, but it’s ok.

Bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool on wire racks for 10 minutes before removing. Use the back of a spoon to pop them out of the cups.

Makes 72 mini bite sized cheesecakes.