Pineapple Cheesecake

Today is the last day of my reading week, the last reading week in my entire life probably. I can’t believe the week went by so quickly! Plus, thank god I got my intern job (yay!) so I will start working right after my finals in April, which means I will not have a summer break, so I believe I will not have a vacation for a while. Therefore, I went to NYC again Jenny and Thea from class! It’s really nice to go somewhere, meet some old friends there and revisit my favorite place in the world, the Magnolia Bakery. This time I finally had a chance to try their banana pudding, omfg seriously… foodgasm. Maybe I should try make this one day. So this is a little update of myself, and I am back to the boring school life here.

This post is about a pineapple cheesecake. I made this with Jenny before the break :) That night, we had a great time watching David Blaine on TLC, having dinner take out from Alto’s for poutine and sushi from another place, plus pineapple cheesecake for dessert. The original recipes can be improved as the proportion of the crust, cheesecake and toppings is not too right. The cake turns out: too much crust and toppings, too little cheesecake. Here’s my edited version of the recipe.

Recipes (adopted from allrecipes)

Yield: 12 (1 10”-round cake)

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup butter

Cheesecake:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

1/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2/3 cup pineapple juice

Toppings:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained with juice reserved

1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine flour, confectioners' sugar, and almonds. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into the bottom of a 10” pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

2) While the crust is baking, prepare the cream cheese layer. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in 2/3 cup pineapple juice. Pour over hot crust and bake for about 20 minutes more in preheated oven. Allow to cool completely.

3) Make the topping: In a saucepan, combine 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup reserved pineapple juice. Bring to a boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in crushed pineapple. Cool completely. When cool, fold in whipped cream. Spread topping over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 4 hours before serving.