French 75 Cheesecake

katefox3141

I can’t even be-gin to tell you the trial and error process I had bringing my absolute favorite cocktail of all time to life in edible form as a cheesecake. Attempt #1 was way too heavy on the gin (I like a hint of gin, not an entire Christmas tree in my mouth), had a GIANT crack in the middle from the champagne air bubbles, and the lemon cream I whipped up was a tacky, sticky hot mess that glued your mouth shut, leaving you no way to wash the pine needles out of your mouth…but I was DETERMINED to make this work, and attempt #2 left me with a lemony cheesecake with only a whisper of juniper and a rich, creamy flavor. Proof that if you keep your gin up, you can persevere through just about anything.

A second failed gin-cident might have pushed me over the edge.

Recipe and Instructions

French 75 Cheesecake

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Intermediate
  • Print

Light, citrusy cheesecake on a graham crust topped with lemon curd and whipped cream

If not gluten free, use any kind of graham cracker crumbs for the crust. Greek yogurt can be replaced with an additional 8 ounces of cream cheese, and allulose can also be replaced with regular sugar. I have not tested this recipe with any other protein powders, so I recommend a whey-based protein.

Ingredients

CRUST
*134 g (~8 sheets Pamela’s gluten free graham crackers
*3 TBS sugar free syrup
*If needed, 1 TBS liquid (water, milk, Aperol, Prosecco, or OJ)
CHEESECAKE FILLING
*224 g (8 ounces) 1/3 the fat cream cheese at room temp
*48 g (1/4 cup) allulose
*226 g (1 cup) nonfat Greek yogurt, strained overnight
*60 g (1/2 cup) Quest vanilla milkshake protein powder
*4 ounces Prosecco or very sweet champagne, opened, warmed to room temp to allow bubbles to go flat (prevents cracks in the cheesecake)
*1 ounce good gin (Botanist, Aviation, Bombay etc.)
*1 ounce lemon juice
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*2 large eggs

TOPPINGS
*Lemon curd (I used 150 g)
*Cool Whip Free (I used 75 g)

Directions

  1. Line an 8″ springform pan with Parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
  2. Preheat oven to 350.
  3. Dump the grahams and syrup in a food processor and grind until smooth (if mixture is too thick, add additional TBS of liquid).
  4. Place crust mix into prepared pan and smooth to the edges (I use cooking spray on my hands to make this easier).
  5. Bake for 10 minutes until golden; remove to cool while making filling.
  6. Using a whisk attachment, mix the cream cheese and allulose in a stand mixer on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and smooth.
  7. Add in the yogurt and protein powder mixing well (it will be thick/chunky).
  8. Add in gin, Prosecco, lemon juice, and vanilla, and blend until smooth, 2-3 minutes.
  9. Switch to a paddle attachment, and on low speed, add eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth.
  10. Fill a large roasting pan with 4-5 cups of steaming hot water. Wrap your springform pan in several layers of foil and place into a crockpot liner, tying the edge up, to keep your cheesecake from getting any water into it during the water bath.
  11. Pour the cheesecake batter into the prepared pan, and put the prepared pan into the roasting pan with water.
  12. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the sides have set but the center is still jiggly.
  13. Turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake inside, and crack the oven door to allow the cheesecake to finish baking for 1 hour.
  14. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool to room temp; I like to run a sharp knife around the edges after it is cool.
  15. Refrigerate cheesecake overnight or place in fridge for 4 hours before removing from springform.
  16. Use the back of a spoon or an angled spatula to smooth lemon curd on top of the cheesecake.
  17. Top curd with Cool Whip. I used a large round tip and piped several blobs in a circle about 1/3 of the way into the cheesecake.
  18. I then took an angled spatula, placed in the middle of one blob, and pulled into the center of the cheesecake; I wiped my spatula clean and did this on all remaining blobs, pulling everything into the center.
  19. Where the swipes ended, I piped another smaller set of blobs in a circle.
  20. I swiped each blob into the center of the cheesecake, cleaning the spatula off after each pass.
  21. To finish the flower pattern, I piped a single small circle in the middle.
  22. Keep leftover cheesecake covered in the fridge.

Nutrition

Macros
8 servings
290 cal/29.1 c/13.7 f/12.4 p per slice
Moral of the story? If at first you don’t succeed, try a-gin.

I like to think of myself as a positive gin-fluence.
This cheesecake is my main squeeze.

Unknown's avatar

Published by katefox3141

Leave a comment