Cinnamon Cheesecake

Well hello!  I hope you’ve had a good couple of months 🙂

I’d love to wow you with hilarious stories and adventures from my “absence” but the truth is I’ve really just had major writer’s block oh and I’m opening a cafe.

Yup…that’s right!  I’m finally opening a cafe and pastry shoppe! <insert insane grin here>  So basically I’m exhausted, I have no time and I couldn’t be happier 🙂  If you’d like to see more of the cafe’s progress you can visit our facebook page here.  I’ll still be blogging as the purple spoon but the cafe will be The Wooden Spoon…so if you’re ever in NY, stop on by!

On to this scrumptious cheesecake though…  I had been wanting to do a funfetti cheesecake as a “fun” way to announce the cafe but I seem to crave cinnamon and cream cheese this time of year (take a look at the last two year’s posts!).  And so cinnamon won out and this time it’s combined with cream cheese and mascarpone cheese.  You really can never go wrong with cinnamon and this cheesecake is no exception; it’s creamy and rich but not too sweet and the cinnamon adds that fragrant spicy balance that no other spice can.  I may have served mine with a bourbon whipped cream but truth be told this cheesecake needs nothing to be enjoyed!

One Year Ago:  Cheesecake Flan
Two Years Ago: Cinnamon Sugar Tortillas with Mascarpone Mousse

Cinnamon Cheesecake
Yields 16-24 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

2- 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
16 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract)
2 teaspoons cinnamon

cinnamon sugar
whipped cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

For the crust: Line the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan with parchment paper.  In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter.  Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the spring form pan. Wrap the outside of the pan in 2 sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven for 7 minutes or until lightly browned.  Set aside.

2. Fill a tea pot or medium pot with water and bring to boil.

3. For the cheesecake: In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and mascarpone cheese for about a minute until all combined.  Keep the mixer at medium low speed and gradually add sugar, increasing speed to medium once all the sugar has been added.  Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula in between each addition.  Add heavy cream, vanilla bean paste or extract and cinnamon and beat on medium speed just until combined.

4. Very lightly butter the sides of the spring form pan and pour batter into prepared pan.  Set a roasting pan or other large pan into the preheated oven.  Place the spring form pan inside it and pour the boiling water (from step 2) into the roasting pan so that it comes half way up the sides of the spring form pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until middle is set but still quivers like gelatin when gently touched.

5. Remove spring form pan from the water bath.  Let cool for a couple minutes and then CAREFULLY remove the foil from the outside of the pan (you may need two people to do this the first time).  Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature and then cover and refrigerate over night or at least 8 hours.

To serve: run a thin knife along the inside of the pan and then slowly unlock the spring form.  Slide the cheesecake off the parchment paper and onto a serving platter.  Sprinkle the top evenly with cinnamon sugar (a combination of 1 tablespoon of sugar to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon) and serve with whipped cream.