{"id":685,"date":"2020-03-14T00:42:34","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T00:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christiniacrippes.com\/food\/?p=685"},"modified":"2020-03-14T00:42:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-14T00:42:34","slug":"medium-shelf-margarita-cheesecake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christiniacrippes.com\/food\/2020\/03\/14\/medium-shelf-margarita-cheesecake\/","title":{"rendered":"Medium-shelf margarita cheesecake"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the greatest — and most me — gifts I ever got was a cookbook called Booze Cakes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As its name suggests, it\u2019s cakes made with booze. Shocking, I know. It could have been just a novelty, but it actually has some great cake recipes, and ones that have clever ways of adapting classic alcoholic drinks into a cake.<\/p>\n

Among my favorites are eggnog cupcakes. They have the eggnog ingredients in the cake, of course, but the cupcakes also have their centers cut out, and topped with a rummy eggnog pudding and a rummy whipped topping, that makes them actually resemble little cups filled with eggnog. Their tea cakes become Long Island ice tea cakes.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m saying is, it\u2019s inventive, and tasty.<\/p>\n

Yet, even after the many years I\u2019ve had it, I still haven\u2019t tried them all, and I do tend to stick to my favorites. This year offers a chance to try some more. Even though, as cake, most recipes call for either a springform pan, or a pair of 9-inch pans, I figured this year is about making the most of what you have so I would give my little Le Creuset a shot.<\/p>\n

I started easy enough, with a margarita cheesecake.<\/p>\n

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Margarita cheesecake ingredients.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or so, I thought.<\/p>\n

While (spoiler alert!) the end result was still amazingly tasty and did manage to taste like both margaritas and cheesecake, the vessel was not as ideal as it seemed. I think partially because I pre-baked the crust too near the bottom of the oven but also because cast iron cooks hotter, much of the wonderful cornmeal crust stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Then, a 9-inch springform is a little different than a 9-inch pie plate so I ended up having way too much filling compared to the area I had left to fill.<\/p>\n

I made a second all cheesecake bake but haven\u2019t dared eat it yet so it will likely almost all go to waste. I guess what I\u2019m saying is this might still be OK if not ideal for a cast iron (given the way it holds heat) but it\u2019d work better in a 10-inch skillet than a little 9-inch braiser.<\/p>\n

Either way, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m going to make it again, because that cornmeal crust and the lime flavor (with a dash of tequila and triple sec) was just too good to only have once.<\/p>\n

A note on the booze: I\u2019m not much for buying top-shelf stuff to use for cooking even though the recipe was technically called a top-shelf margarita cheesecake. I\u2019m cheap and already pay for good whiskey, so I went with what I\u2019m calling the medium-shelf level. Kind of like the Medium Place, there are worse tequilas and triple secs, but I couldn\u2019t talk myself into the good stuff. Besides, I\u2019m no tequila aficionado so mediocre is fine by me. And it all worked out fine so don\u2019t stress if you want to go cheap; the flavors will mix just fine without splurging on the good stuff (unless you really want to!).<\/p>\n

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TEQUILA!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s what I did (following the recipe, except the garnishes, even though it is a little off for a 9-inch pie plate\/braiser):<\/p>\n

Ingredients\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the crust:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n