Gluten-Free Raspberry Cheesecake

rasberry-cheesecake

Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa and chef fabulosa, I’d like you to meet Elizabeth Barbone, the Easy Gluten-Free Baking guru. I’ve smashed up your recipes and come up with one seriously kick-ass cheesecake! Based on how great this combo is, I really think the two of you should work together more often. You will definitely be doing so in my kitchen.

Now, I know cheesecake can easily be gluten-free and peanut/nut-free. It doesn’t necessarily require a crust but I like a buttery, crumbly, graham cracker crust. Elizabeth Barbone’s gluten-free Honey Maid graham cracker recipe fit the bill and was the absolute perfect contrast to the lemon zest in Ina Garten’s Raspberry Cheesecake recipe that takes it over the edge for me. There are some pretty specific steps to this recipe. You should follow them precisely. Sometimes good things take a little bit more work. I’m ok with that, on occasion. If you don’t have the time to make your own graham cracker crumbs, you can use a box of Smoreables instead. Bring this cheesecake to a nice dinner party or serve for dessert after your own sometime.

I’ve modified both recipes slightly. I generally use a 7″ springform pan instead of a 9″ and reduce most of the ingredients accordingly. The original is probably a bit thicker but I am happy with the way mine turns out in terms of crust, cake and topping ratios. I use raspberry jam, even though the Contessa says not to (that’s just what I had the 1st time I made the recipe and it still tasted amazing so I’m sticking to it). I use less raspberries and I don’t cook them with the jam. I just wash them and place them on top of the cheesecake. I like the contrast of the fresh berries with the creaminess of the cake. I add slightly less butter to the graham cracker crumbs while making the crust, mainly because I’ve added a good amount in the recipe while making them from scratch and don’t want to go crazy. In addition, I’ve been known to occasionally sub mixed berries in for the raspberries and that has worked pretty well too. Without any further ado…here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

Raspberry Cheesecake with Homemade Gluten-Free Graham Cracker Crust
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Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
A deliciously creamy and zesty cheesecake with fresh berries on top and a buttery, crumbly gluten free homemade graham cracker crust. It cooks for about 1½ hours but you need to cool it overnight so I added 12 hours to the cooking time.
Ingredients
  • Graham Cracker Crumbs (this recipe will yield more than you need for the cheesecake crust but it is great to save the remainder in a ziploc bag or airtight container for future use):
  • 1½ C brown rice flour (I use Arrowhead Mills)
  • ½ C cornstarch
  • ⅓ C packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 t baking powder
  • ½ t salt
  • 5 T cold butter
  • 6 T milk
  • 3 T honey
  • Graham Cracker Crust:
  • 1 C graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 T sugar
  • 3 T butter, melted
  • Cheesecake Filling:
  • 1½ lbs (3 8oz pkgs) of cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 C sugar
  • 3 whole large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
  • ⅛ C sour cream
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 t vanilla extract
  • Raspberry Topping:
  • ¾ cup raspberry jam
  • 1 pint fresh raspberries or assorted fresh berries
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Graham Cracker Crumbs:
  3. Place dry ingredients in food processor and pulse to combine
  4. Add the butter and pulse until coarse (no large pieces should remain)
  5. Add milk and honey
  6. Pulse until dough forms
  7. Lay out a piece of parchment paper (12x16) and dust with rice flour
  8. Roll dough out until it covers paper (about ⅛" thick), continuing to brush rolling pin and dough with rice flour, as needed
  9. Place parchment paper with dough on baking pan and bake for about 15 minutes, until evenly brown
  10. Remove, cool and place in ziploc and roll over with rolling pin until crumbled
  11. Graham Cracker Crust:
  12. Combine sugar, graham crackers and melted butter until moistened
  13. Place in springform pan and press into the bottom and up the sides
  14. Bake for 8 minutes and cool to room temperature
  15. Cheesecake Filling:
  16. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
  17. Cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, with paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes
  18. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well
  19. Scrape bowl and beater, as necessary
  20. Reduce speed to low and add sour cream, lemon zest and vanilla
  21. Mix thoroughly and pour onto cooled crust
  22. Bake for 10 minutes
  23. Lower oven temperature to 225 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes
  24. Turn the oven off and open the door wide
  25. Allow cake to sit in the oven with the door open for 20 minutes
  26. Take out of the oven and allow to sit at room temperature for another 2 hours or so, until completely cooled
  27. Wrap and refrigerate overnight
  28. Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake. Leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan for serving.
  29. Raspberry Topping: melt the jam in a small pan over low heat.
  30. Allow to cool to room temperature and spread over the top of the cheesecake
  31. Arrange the berries on top of the cake
  32. Refrigerate until ready to serve

 

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