Piña Colada Cheesecake

Piña

 Colada Cheesecake

This cheesecake is an ode to first being bitten by the travel bug.  My first taste of “real” travel was a family trip to Mexico, when I was 16.

We’d been to the USA on little trips, but it felt too similar in so many ways to Canada to count (culture, architecture, cuisine).  We’d been to the British Virgin Islands, but, at 8, I’d been far too young to properly appreciate the experience properly.  I could go on for pages about my awe of other cultures, what I felt when my eyes were first properly opened to the beauty of diversity.  However, I hate the narcissistic crap some bloggers blather on about for paragraph after paragraph.  Instead, I’ll let my cheesecake speak for itself. ❤

Ingredients:

For crust

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp shredded coconut (I used dried)

For Topping

• 1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
• 1/3 cup rum
• 1/3 cup pineapple juice

For Cheesecake batter

• 2 pkg 8oz cream cheese (room temp)
• 115 gram goats cheese
• 1  3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1  1/2 cup coconut cream
• 2 tbsp pineapple juice
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp greek yogurt
• 3 tsp cornflour
• 2.5 eggs (2 whole eggs, one yolk)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine all topping ingredients in a bowl, cover, and place in fridge to marinade.

Place rack in centre of oven and preheat to 350F (176C).

Grease springform pan.  You can use whichever size you’d like, just take into account: the bigger the pan, the thinner the cake, the shorter the cooking time 🙂.

Using a food processor or a bag and rolling pin, make fine crumbs out of your cookies.  Melt the butter in pan over medium heat.  Combine the two in a large bowl, add salt and coconut, stir.  Press into pan bottom, and slightly up the sides.  Bake 10 min.

Remove from oven and reduce heat to 320F (150C).  Allow crust to cool.

Cream cream cheese with hand mixer until smooth and creamy (no lumps).  Add goats cheese, blend briefly. Add sugar, blend 2 min.  Scrape sides of bowl and blend for another 2 min.  Salt, blend, scrape. Vanilla, blend, scrape. Greek yogurt, blend, scrape. Coconut cream, blend, scrape.  Pineapple juice, lemon juice, corn flour, blend, scrape.  Beat in eggs and yolk, one at a time, scrape and blend again.

Bake at 320F (150C) for 45 min, or until the top is golden, and most of the cake is firm when you move it (only the very middle jiggles a tiny bit).  After the 45 min, shut the oven off, open the door, but leave the cake in.  Cheesecake doesn’t like quick temperature changes (makes it crack).  After a few minutes, pull it out of the oven and onto a cooling rack.  Run a knife between the cake and the side of the pan to further prevent cracking (cake contracts when cooling).  Allow to cool at room temp for 30 mins.

Place in freezer for a minimum 2 hours, but, honestly, it’s best refrigerate overnight.  When ready to serve, spoon rum/pineapple mixture over top.