defiantly domestic

goat cheese and lemon cheesecake with hazelnut crust

for our first "official" bake-together, rangsiwan chose this cheesecake from cook's illustrated. not exactly what I would have picked, I probably would have gone with some sort of entree, but as I read the recipe I got pretty excited nonetheless! part of my hesitation probably came from just trying goat milk yogurt for the first time right before she sent me this link. I love goat cheese, but not in almost-liquid form I found. cake made out of it though? now that's something I could get behind!

I actually don't know if I was more excited about the goat cheese, the lemon curd, or the hazelnut crust. it all sounded good to me! I tried to start early on saturday so it would be ready for dinner. somehow 10 or 11 wasn't early enough. there are a lot of lulls in this recipe that make it a "bake-a-day-ahead" one or just get started earlier. each step in the recipe is pretty easy in and of itself. you first throw some hazelnuts, cookies, and melted butter in the food processor for the crust. this smelled and looked so good, with its nice golden color. while that's baking you start mixing all of the cheese....1.5 pounds of it! this was definitely going to be rich. the lemon juice and zest made it fragrant and, this is just my theory, cut through the heaviness of your usual cheesecake.

the hardest part of the recipe was the lemon curd. this was the first time I made lemon curd and I was scared of ending up with scrambled eggs. mine was set pretty quickly, probably helped my the little cast iron pot I used and what most likely added to my anxiety. I didn't use a thermometer for this, instead just eyeing up the back of the spoon until I reached the right consistency. I could just make the lemon curd and be happy. this was so delicious, could I just eat it with some whip cream?

I would say that this recipe was flawless, but do you see the crust? the yummy hazelnut, animal cookie goodness....gone. water leaked into the springform pan in the water bath and washed away any flavor and texture, leaving behind a bland mushy mess. I covered the pan with tin foil like the recipe suggested, but as soon as I took it out of the waterbath I could see there was some water in the foil. the rest of the cake is fine, so we've just been eating it without the crust. I'm almost tempted to bake an empty crust and just move over the cheesecake to it. or maybe i'll make cookies and drop them in a bowl along with the cheesecake.

will I make it again? only for special occasions, since this was way too big for just two people. and I won't make it again until I figure out how not to end up with a waterlogged crust.

When I told B I was making a lemon cheesecake with goat cheese, he said you had me at lemon cheesecake and then you turned my stomach when you said goat cheese. That was definitely not the reaction I was looking for. When I told Yahaira about the recipe, we both oooooh'd it, thinking that the goat cheese tang would be the x-factor. It sounded yummy, but my only minor reservation was that the goat cheese would overpower the flavor of the cheesecake. But fortunately, it did not.

Meyer lemons, animal crackers and more = yummy creamy goodness

When I opened my first "we must make this" email from Yahaira & Rangsiwan my eyes were immediately caught by the words "Goat Cheese". Those who know me well know that I am a huge fan of cheese in general with a plain goat cheese topping my list of favorite multi-purpose cheeses.

Of course until I was directed towards the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Goat Cheese and Lemon Cheese Cake, I hadn't considered it's use in dessert.

The recipe is both daunting and simple. The daunting part requires a lot of "mise en place" or prep of ingredients.

The crust and the filling were your typical, "run of the mill" cheese cake directions (animal crackers and hazelnuts with butter in the food processor for the crust and cheese, cheese, more cheese, eggs, etc. for the filling).

The addition of a lemon curd for the topping was a new one for me. The directions given by CI made the process for making a lemon curd sound kind of frightening. I just kept stiring and stiring and hoping I wouldn't end up with a rock hard substance stuck to my pan. Lucky for me it turned out perfectly. I didn't use a thermometer, I just eye balled it, and it was fine.

Apparently the direction that alluded us all was the wrapping of the tin foil for the bain marie. I'm not sure how I screwed up wrapping the pan in tin foil, but I did.

Yes, my cheesecake had a mushy crust too.

Of course, mushy crust aside, it was a tasty treat. The goat cheese added a sharp flavor that paired with the sour/sweet bite of the lemon curd topping was fantastic. Rich but not over powering and just the rich amount of bite.

I'm sure the hazelnut crust would have added something to the flavors if it hadn't been such a mess.

My final verdict is that the recipe, with some tweaking (ie: indusrial strength foil) is a winner. The lemon curd was my favorite part & I see whipping some of that up in the future for use on lots of things (maybe just to be eaten with a spoon by itself even).

Since it makes so much (enough for 12-15 people) by neighbors are all enjoying the cake tonight for dessert. If it's as much of a hit with them as it was in our house I'll make it again in a heart beat.