Hi guys. I’m Sarah Mitchell, and on this AJ Zorvella Bakes blog, I wanted to share my amorti cheesecake recipe with you. Now this recipe is incredibly simple and easy, but I wanted to share it with you because I feel like it’s perfect on your holiday table, you know, the dessert table on your holiday meal. And it’s so easy and simple, and it’s just got all the traditional things that a regular cheesecake would have. We’re just going to tweak things up a little bit, and the subtle almond flavor takes things to another level, in my opinion.
We are going to get started with the crust and the crust is going to be Amonti cookies, melted butter and sugar. Now you can use graham crackers if you want to, if you don’t have Amanti cookies. But these are, I think, crucial in this recipe. These are little Italian almond cookies that are crispy, really crispy, yet incredibly light as well. If you can see, they just taste very delicate even though they’re Uber crispy.
These are going to impart that fantastic almond flavor that we are going to kick things off with. The base is going to be almond flavor. So I need about 8 oz of cookies and the bag has about 17 oz, which is a little over a pound. So I’m going to put roughly about a half bag in here and then we are going to crumble them up nice and fine.
All right. Put the lid on. I’m doing this in my food processor just because it’s easy and I need to get everything mixed well. So let’s do this. Totally ground it up nice and fine.
All right. Let’s add in our melted butter. This is what’s going to keep everything together, and some sugar to sweeten things up just a little bit more. Not too much, just a couple of tablespoons. And I’m just going to whiz this up until just the butter is incorporated well throughout all the crumbs.
That looks great. It’s got the texture of wet sand, which is exactly what I am looking for. I’m going to take this out of here. I’m actually just going to do this with my hands because it’s so much better. It’s so much easier to get every last bit of it out.
And now what I’m going to do is I’m just going to press this around with my fingers a bit, and then take a measuring cup, or anything you can take a drinking glass and just press this into the center and up the sides, in the bottom and up the sides of your dish or your baking dish. Once you have your base pressed in your pan, you’ll do a much better job than I did. I have no patience.
But you want to make sure your oven’s also preheated to 325. And now we’re going to get going on making the filling, which is super simple and easy.
The ingredients you’ll need are some cream cheese that’s been softened at room temperature. You’ll also need some mascarpone, which is like Italian cream cheese. Flour, a pinch of salt, granulated sugar, vanilla paste, some Amar, it’s almond Lor, and you’ll need some eggs.
Now if you don’t want to use liquor, by all means just substitute it with a touch of almond extract. It’ll be delicious, but it just won’t be spiced like the Almond Lor will be. But it’s totally optional, and it’s totally up to you which way you want to do it.
Now I’m doing half cream cheese, half mascarpone, because I tend to think that the mascarpone is a touch sweeter and really much creamier in texture. So I just love the combination of the two. But you could do all cream cheese, and I wouldn’t be upset, I promise.
Now let’s get going and by the way, you can find the musard p in pretty much any supermarket nowadays, right in the specialty food cheese case in your local market. That is where it will be, so keep an eye out for that.
Now I’ve got my standing mixer here, and I’m just going to make this in my standing mixer because it’s a lot easier. My food processor is just a little too small to make this big batch. So I’m going to add in my mascarpone and my cream cheese, and I’m going to mix these for about a minute or so, or until they are really kind of well whipped and creamed together.
I want everything to be super smooth, with no lumps, which is why your ingredients must be at room temperature, and that includes the eggs. So I’m just going to mix this for about a minute, and we’ll add in the next ingredient.
That looks great. I’m going to add in the sugar and I’m going to let them cream together for about a minute. Every time I add a new ingredient, I’m going to let it mix for about a minute or so because I want this to be really creamy and smooth. I won’t want this to be lumpy at all. I want this to be creamy and luscious, and I’m taking that extra step because I feel like it makes a difference in the result. And if I can take the extra step, I’m sure anyone can take the extra step because, you know, I’m very impatient.
Now I’m going to add in a good teaspoon of vanilla paste. You can also add vanilla extract if you wanted to, but because I’m not adding almond extract, I’m adding Amaro. I’m adding the vanilla paste for a little extra something special.
And it’s time to add the eggs, and we’re going to mix this for another minute as well. I’m going to add my touch of flour and salt, and my Amaretto, which I love, love, love, love. But again, it’s spiced, and it’s almost spicy, and it’s deliciously flavored, but it’s not overpowering, which is why I love this. Because you’ve got the hit of almond in the crust, and you have the hit of almond in the custard, you know, in the filling. It’s just a perfectly well-balanced cheesecake that I love, and I’m thrilled to share it with you.
Mix this for a minute, and then we’ll be ready to pour it into our crust and get it into the oven. It’s just phenomenal and I love those little specks of vanilla bean.
I’m going to pour this. Oh, I mean really, look at that consistency. Look at the creaminess. It’s just going to be so luscious and rich and fantastic. I just love it.
What I’m going to do… Always want to make sure that you put your cheesecake, or anything, on a baking sheet because it’s easy to get in and out of the oven.
I’m just going to tap it. All the air bubbles will go away, and you won’t be left with any sort of wonky bubbles throughout your cheesecake. So just tap it a couple of times. There you go. And everything settles as well.
This is going to go into your oven at 325 for about an hour to an hour and 5 to 10 minutes. You have to really keep an eye on it. You’re looking for the edges to be set, but for the center to still be a little Jell-O-like, with a little wobbliness. And then it needs to cool for a few hours on the counter and overnight in the fridge.
So again, in the oven for around an hour. Let it sit at room temperature for a few hours, and then pop it into the fridge overnight. And I will show you what it looks like when it’s finally all set and ready to serve.
My cheesecake baked for an hour and 15 minutes. And then I let it cool for a few hours on the counter and overnight in the fridge.
Now please do not be alarmed if your cheesecake cracks, because proper cheesecake is baked in a water bath, as I did in my very first cheesecake recipe. It’s baked in a water bath, and then it’s cooled kind of gently. It doesn’t go from the oven to the counter right away. Usually you turn the oven off and let it cool slowly.
It’s a long process, which I like to avoid at all costs. So if I am making a topping for my cheesecakes, I don’t bother with all that. I just bake it as is. It does not compromise flavor or texture. It is perfection either way. You’re going to have to trust me.
We are going to make an almond whipped cream.
And in here I’ve got some heavy cream. To my heavy cream, I’m going to put in a touch of almond extract, a little less than about a quarter teaspoon. You want to be really careful because almond extract can be really strong, and you don’t want anything to be too overpowering.
And in this little skillet here, I’ve got some sliced almonds that I’m going to toast in a dry skillet until they are toasted and beautifully golden and delicious. And for now, I am going to whip this up until it reaches soft peaks. And then we’ll add in our powdered sugar.
I’m just going to add my powdered sugar, and I’m going to continue to whip this up until it’s got lovely stiff peaks, but not too stiff. Otherwise, it’ll turn into butter. I turned off my almonds, and I’ve been snacking on them. You can see some of them have gotten lovely dark golden brown. It’s exactly where I want them.
Okay. Now you’re going to take a knife, and you’re going to run it all around the side of the cheesecake just to loosen it up a bit. And then you are going to take the sides right off. And this is why I like using a springform pan, because it’s really easy. And then I just take the whole thing.
Oh, it’s beautiful. It is beautiful. And I put that right on a pretty cake stand, just like that. And I’m going to take this sweetened almond whipped cream and pile that right in the middle.
You can pipe it into a beautiful pattern if you want to, but who are we kidding? Because I’m not going to do that. The more time I waste decorating, the less time I have to eat it. Basically, that’s where I was getting at.
Just make this nice and flat and kind of even. That’s my snack right there.
So I’m going to leave that aside, and then just take some of your toasted almonds, let them cool a bit, and sprinkle those over the top as evenly as possible, and as many as you want. Beautiful. These almonds are delicious. Now it’s time to serve. My mouth is watering just looking at it. I might have made cheesecake once or twice in my life to know what a good cheesecake texture should be.
It’s incredibly delicious, creamy, rich, and not at all overwhelming with almonds whatsoever. Because I have to be honest, I am someone who loves almonds, but if it goes overboard, I just am not a fan. And I really, really wanted to make sure that this recipe reflected that. You can kind of taste the almond. It was hitting all the right notes, but it just wasn’t taking over the entire thing.
This is worthy of being on any dessert table, any time of year. It’s perfection, and it’s super simple and easy to make. I mean, we literally just pop it into the oven. No need to worry about a water bath, different temperatures, or all that fun stuff.
You just need to make this recipe. You just need to make this and get the recipe on ajzorvellabakes.com.
