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Ever since i saw Eric Roux’s program about squashes, i’ve been focused 1) on finding butternut squashes and 2) on cooking them.
But at the moment, i cook so much i have something like 10 posts waiting to be actually posted. And this one is one of them.

I deeply love cheesecakes. They’re for me one of those things you never ate as a children but fantasied about for years and years. Fortunately my boyfriend (for now 5 years !) is British and his mother Sheena makes the most exquisite Lemon Crunch Flan, a kind of Non-baked cheesecake. So from this time my love for cheesecakes was calmed down a little; but just a little.

When we went to Canada a year ago i stopped at every bakery to try their cheesecakes, aiming to find the most creamy, the most cheesecakey cheesecake. And i never did; but when i got Nigella’s How to be a domestic goddess for Xmas last year, i immediately spotted her recipe for London Cheesecake. And i can tell you it fully does it for me.

After years of passion for the simplest cheesecakes, i’ve now become a kind of cheesecakes explorator and after having made thousands of variations i realized i never used pumpkin in them. So when i saw Nigella’s recipe for Pumpkin cheesecake i thought it would be great to make a butternut and ricotta cheesecake, and so i did, and i wasn’t wrong.


Butternut squash and ricotta cheesecake
for a 23cm cheesecake – 12 servings
This cheesecake is rich and creamy. I love its golden abricot colour that makes me feel in the mood for the summer even if it’s rainy outdoors.

1kg butternut squash, unpeeled and cut in 3cm cubes

250g gingernuts biscuits or digestives
125g melted butter
½ tsp cinnamon

250g ricotta
500g cream cheese
6 eggs
juice of half a lemon
200g caster sugar

Steam the dices of butternut squash for 30min. When cold enough to handle, scoop out the flesh, mash it with a fork and leave in a sieve overnight. You want the puree to be as dry as posible.
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a 23cm springform tin with a double layer of foil (your tin needs to be waterproof) and baking parchmnt.
Blitz the biscuits in the processor until they resemble fine crumbs and add the cinnamon and melted butter. Blitz again and press this biscuit mixture to create an even base. Put in the fridge while you get on with the rest.
Blitz the pumpkin purée, ricotta and cream cheese in the processor. Add the eggs and sugar. Finally mix in the lemon juice. Scrape the cheesecake filling into the springform tin and sit the tin in a roasting pan. Pour the water from a recently boiled kettle into the roasting pan to a level approximately halfway up the cake tin.
Bake for 1¾ hours, or until the filling has set with only a small amount of wobble left at its centre. Take the tin out of the water bath and sit on a cooling rack, removing the foil as you do so. When it is cool enough, put the cheesecake in the refrigirator overnight, before unspringing if from the tin to slice.


This recipe was featured in Eric Roux's blog on the 4th of november.

Labels: recipe inside, tartes

 chrubuky said something sweet:

Fanny,

You have found a recipe that contains 3 of my favourite foods. Butternut Pumpkin, ginger & cheesecake. I have copied down the recipe & will make it as soon as we get an oven in our flat.

Thanks for your wonderful blog.

27 October, 2005 20:18 

 tschoerda said something sweet:

oh, i really like your pictures! and i definitely have to try this delicious recipe!

28 October, 2005 21:17 

 LeeLoreya said something sweet:

can a food item with such a beautiful name az "butternut", (and all the soft mellow connotations of "butter", and the warmth of "nut") ever go wrong?
...

I really beam when I read your blog, like I did during my own yearly summer trips down to alpes maritimes...

30 October, 2005 16:19 

 Banlieue Blog said something sweet:

bonjour!
this recipe and photo look divine!
Thanks for posting it!
Hope all it well.

01 November, 2005 17:48 

 Aude said something sweet:

Hello,
I just made a butternut squash and orange soup yesterday.
I've never used pumpkins ou squash in something sweet but I will definitely give a try to your ricotta & butternut squash combo. It looks gorgeous and I am feeling hungry now.

02 November, 2005 12:50 

 *fanny* said something sweet:

Hi there you can't imagine how happy i am with all your nice comments.
Thanx again
Fanny

02 November, 2005 15:20 

 Mona said something sweet:

Wow, you never cease to amaze me Fanny :)
That crust looks amazing. I'm pretty bored with my standard cheesecake recipe, glad to have a new version to try!

06 November, 2005 19:21 

 *fanny* said something sweet:

Hi Mona, thank you so much for your comment. I'd be so happy if you'd try it. Hope you'll enjoy this non-conformist cheesacake.
Fanny

08 November, 2005 15:41 

 numaleon said something sweet:

Colors are main important when you describe food.
I can't see them for a long while... I'M HUNGRY!

10 November, 2005 21:49 

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