Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

Merry Christmas All :)

This one really looks good, I'll have to remember to try it.

Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 cups water
2 pounds cream cheese
5 eggs -- separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon orange peel
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 3/4 cups cranberries

1. Pat crumbs and butter into 10" springform.
2. Soften gelatin in water, set aside.
3. Blend cream cheese, egg yolks, vanilla, juice, peel and sugar.
4. Gradually add 1 3/4 cup of the gelatin.
5. Beat egg whites (reserve 1 T for garnish) stiff and fold into cheese mixture.
6. Refrigerate 30 - 45 minutes.
7. Cook sugar, water and cranberries until skins pop (5 minutes).
8. Add remaining gelatin, puree and refrigerate until mixture mounds.
9. Marble cream cheese and cranberry mixture in crust, refrigerate overnight.
10. GARNISH: Dip 6 whole cranberries in reserved egg white, roll in sugar and set for 1 hour.

For more than 130 cheesecake recipes and other ones as well, you can visit my newly opened forum The Grafted In Cookbook, come and share your recipes, critique others, or just come in for a cuppa.

How to Make Sour Cream

Our next installment for the homestead cheesecake maker wannabe is making sour cream.

Traditionally, sour cream was made by letting fresh cream sour naturally. Natural occurring bacteria in the cream including, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc, as well as various Lactobacillus created the acid flavor in the cream. Today, commercially made sour cream is produced by inoculating a pasteurized cream with a pure mixture of bacteria. Once the product has thickened it is re-pasteurized and the bacteria is killed.

Some tips I found online: Never boil sour cream because it will curdle immediately. To add sour creme to a hot liquid, remove the liquid from the heat source (or turn the heat to very low) and add the cream while stirring gently. (This is why my stroganoff always curdles. ) Now two ways of making sour cream.

Method 1
Ingredients:
1 cup cream
1 tablespoon cultured buttermilk
Recipe can be increased at the ratio of 1 tablespoon buttermilk to 1 cup of cream.

Instructions:

1. In a double boiler bring the fresh cream up to 180 degrees.
2. Cool to room temp in a cold water bath. Add the buttermilk, cover, and let sit at room temp. for 24-48 hours.
3. Stir and refrigerate.
4. The batch will keep approximately 3-4 weeks, refrigerated

Method 2
Ingredients:
1 cup cream
1 1/2 cups pasteurized whole milk
1/2 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl over warm water.
2. Raise the temperature of the mixture to (68 degrees to 70 degrees F) and let it stand for 12 to 24 hours or until it is sufficiently sour and thick enough to cling firmly to a spoon.
3. Keep in the refrigerator until you want to use it.
4. For a richer heavier sour cream combine 2 cups of pasteurized heavy cream with 5 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk and incubate as before.
5. For better texture refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.