Mango Week Recipe #2.1: Cheesecake at Dawn

After serving this dessert on over two dozen plates that were then scraped clean, I can safely say that I am pleased with the result. My third and final experiment was conducted at dawn, after my mother had left out the eggs and cream cheese for ten hours, in a sleepless haze. (Such measures are probably unnecessary.) I am amazed that anyone let me near a food processor at that hour, but maybe some special six a.m. mojo slipped into the cake.

As it was recently brought to my attention that agave nectar plays Beelzebub to refined white sugar's Lucifer, I've left the sweetener section open for whatever you've got on hand - either liquid (unrefined honey, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, etc) or granular (rapadura, turbinado, etc) will work with this recipe with no major differences, since the amount added is so small. At some point I'll figure out which sweetener will kill you slowest and will suggest it, but substitutions will work unless specified. Also, I used arrowroot powder in my first experiment and the cheesecake didn't explode, so now I'm too superstitious to do forgo it. It's probably fine without it, but I will not be held responsible for the workings of cheesecake poltergeists, so it's on you.

Extraordinary Mango Cheesecake

Crust:
    2 ½ cups walnut halves
    2 tbsp butter, cold and straight out of the fridge
    1 tbsp sweetener
    pinch of salt

Filling:
    3 eight-ounce packages cream cheese
    2 cups mango purée (3-4 ripe mangoes, food processed)
    3 eggs
    2-3 tbsp sweetener, to taste
    1 tsp arrowroot powder
    juice of ½ lemon (about 1 tbsp)

***All the filling ingredients must be at room temperature. I know, I don't like to wait either, but suck it up or get your mother to put them out for you while you go gallivanting around at midnight.***

First, make the crust. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grind the walnuts in the bowl of the food processor until they resemble bread crumbs, then add the butter (cut up into small chunks) and the sweetener. Let it whirl around the food processor for a few seconds, until it all starts to come together. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a 9" round springform pan with a spatula, making sure that it's spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, at which point it should be a little puffy and very light brown, then remove and let cool while you make the filling.

a) looking like bread crumbs

b) adding the butter and sweetener

c) coming together right now, yeah






The filling: cream the cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the mango purée and continue to beat until well mixed - if there are little white bits of cream cheese visible in there, either you haven't been at it long enough or you cheated about room temperature ingredients (cheesecake never lies). Once smooth, incorporate the eggs one at a time, followed by arrowroot powder. Add lemon juice and sweetener to taste (how much you use depends on the ripeness of the mangoes).

Cream cheese a-creamin'

About to go in the pan













Now, we take anti-gravity measures. Lightly grease the sides of the springform pan with the crust in it (after it has cooled down a bit), and pour the filling in. Fill a shallow baking pan with water and place on the bottom oven rack. Put the springform pan on the middle rack and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Then turn off the oven and let the cheesecake take a breather in there for another 30 minutes, leaving the oven door open. Remove the cheesecake and let cool (usually about 30 minutes), then refrigerate for as long as possible before serving (overnight works best). No matter what you do, absolutely do not open the oven door in the first 30 minutes of baking, preferably not until the end, and don't cover the cheesecake in the refrigerator because condensation will form and drip down and ruin everything.

Once you're ready to serve the cheesecake, cut up some strawberries for garnish, or purée another mango and spread it on top.