RICHARD FRISBIE :: Double Mascarpone & Cocoa Cheesecake

Double Mascarpone & Cocoa Cheesecake

The to-die-for recipe just got better! Some of you may remember the Cheesecake in almond tart crust recipe I posted a while back – if not – it is here:

RICHARD FRISBIE - Cheese Cake "To Die For!"

I used that cheesecake recipe in a new chocolate crust for this year’s outstanding Holiday dessert.

From Chocolate Bliss

Chocolate Bliss written by Susie Norris
Subtitled: Sensuous recipes, spa treatments, and other divine indulgences.
ISBN #978-1-58761-347-0 $16.99 Hardcover

Chocolate Sugar Dough is a basic building-block recipe to be used as a base for cakes, tarts, and cookies. (makes approx 2 lbs dough)

1 ½ cup sifted cake flour (regular flour can be substituted, with some lack of texture, by removing 2 TBS of flour for each cup of flour called for. In this case less 3 TBS regular flour.
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp kosher salt
¾ cup cold unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 TBS rum (I used Myer’s)
1 TBS brewed espresso or coffee
1 tsp vanilla extract

The author carefully described how to gently combine all the ingredients to achieve the best texture. Since my goal was crumbs, I skipped down to where she said:” if you are in a rush, toss all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse a few times until you get a smooth dough.” I did that!
Then I shaped the dough into a ball, divided it in half, and put each half in a plastic bag, (one went into the freezer for another day!) before moving to the next recipe.

Cocoa Nib Crust

1 pound Chocolate Sugar Dough
½ cup cocoa nibs
½ cup almonds

Here, I just used the ingredients, but not the instructions that go with the tart part of the recipe. Pulse the almonds and cocoa nibs in the food processor until chopped. Pour the crumbs into the plastic bag of dough and work it in to mix thoroughly. Refrigerate.
Preheat oven to 350. Roll small spoonfuls of chilled dough into balls with your hands. Flatten and place on a greased cookie sheet. Cook 12 minutes. They’ll melt down and maybe join – you don’t care. Cool. I did that on Sunday night – left them right on the cookie sheet in a cool kitchen until the morning.

My resident taster told me “if you write that recipe down you could make a million dollars selling those cookies.”

They were an odd gray color, not pretty, but dynamite tasting, for sure!

On Monday I broke up most of the cookies and pulsed them in the food processor to crumbs. Then I proceeded with the almond tart recipe replacing the almond cookie crumbs with the cocoa ones. Simple and easy. I’ll dribble a bitter chocolate over the whole thing Thanksgiving morning, then pack my cheesecake for the trip to a first ever Thanksgiving dinner at my niece’s new house. Family, yours or someone else’s, is the primary ingredient in any Thanksgiving recipe. The rest of the ingredients you can alter to suit your tastes!

FOOD BITES :: Best Tasting Gravy & Stuffing
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Richard Frisbie, FOOD Correspondent:

RICHARD FRISBIE is published twice a month to Gather Essentials: Food. It is a food junkie's take on growing, raising, preparing and - above all else - eating food. Together we'll explore the trends, addictions, equipment and regional specialties that make up the sometimes mundane and sometimes sublime cooking and dining experience. You can keep up with my other postings and Gather activity by joining my Gather network -- I look forward to hearing from you.

You can read all of my articles  http://rfrisbie.gather.com/ or find them with those of the other Food Correspondents, plus celebrity chef content and plenty of other Foodies at  http://foodtalk.gather.com

DISCLAIMER - Richard Frisbie accepts free copies of books for review, restaurant meals to critique, bottles of wine and liquor for tastings, and all-expense-paid trips in exchange for articles about the destinations. He is paid for these articles.

BIO - Richard Frisbie writes culinary travel articles, is a columnist for his local newspapers, and is a regular contributor to the many Hudson Valley, Catskill Mountain and other regional New York publications. Online, he writes frequent articles for EDGE Publications, GoNomad and Travel Lady, as well as Gather.

JOIN MY GROUPS:

Everything About New York State http://aboutnewyork.gather.com/
Travel/Food/Wine BOOK Reviews http://tfwbookreviews.gather.com/

Food Videos Forum http://foodvideos.gather.com/
Join to see some of the kitchens and techniques you read about here at Gather

BLOG - http://www.bloglines.com/blog/rfrisbie

Where some of my Gather work and other things, primarily about New York State, appears.

BOOKSTORE - Specializing in New York State books since 1959 http://www.hopefarm.com