Apparently we love the booze...Cookbook resolution #2 Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake

Apparently we love the booze.....Cookbook resolution #2 Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake

(I keep making things with rum)

My mom is worried. (not about the rum use tho) She calls me every few days and asks "what are you cooking for dinner?" When I (usually) say I have no idea, she frets, "but you have 200 recipes to make this year! That's 4 a week. You better get busy."
No worries mom!....she wants me to succeed, and I'm not trying to fail already, but I did know that this might be a two year resolution. Slow but steady....I'll get it done.

I last left you with Meghan's (one of my favorite sisters-in-law ) choice... I gave her a cookbook title and told her how many pages it had. She picked page 49 for me to make a recipe from.
That will be coming up in a post sometime this week.
But for this post...here is the cookbook I chose:

Betty Crocker's "Fall Baking 2007". #240 in their series. I chose "Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake", with Brown Sugar Rum Sauce.

And it is now apparent that WE LOVE RUM. I wonder if we have a "rum" dessert problem? We might have to go into Rum Dessert counseling. Rum Cake, Hot Buttered Rum and now this: Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake.

My thoughts on this recipe?
This cheesecake was denser and heavier than any I had ever made at home before. The cream cheese to egg ratio was very different. When I baked it, I didn't have high hopes. It just felt different.
And....the top was very brown...it did crack, even tho I baked it with a pan of water to stop that. It cracked and got very brown, almost too brown on top. I'm not sure if I cooked it too long, although I didn't leave it in the oven as long as the directions said I could have, but there were a few very, very dark brown spots on the cheesecake.
It looked almost burnt in those spots to me. If I make it again, I'll have to adjust the cooking time or cover during the last part of baking or do some research as to why it browned unevenly. It didn't look as pretty as I would have liked.

When I served it?
Everyone loved it. It was nutmeggy and cinnamonny and rummy. As a rule, I am not as big a fan of flavored cheesecakes as most people. I just like my cheesecake plain or with cherries or strawberries. Not to say I didn't enjoy this, I did, it was just not my favorite. Everyone else was impressed with the flavor and loved it. It did have a real "Hot buttered Rum" feel just like the recipe implies.
Our Friday Night Friends kept some at their house to eat on Saturday.


Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake with Brown Sugar Rum Sauce

Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:
5 packages cream cheese (8oz each)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons rum
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs

Sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup rum
golden raisins or nuts if you want (I didn't want)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In small bowl, mix crust ingredients. Press firmly in the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool Completely.
Reduce oven temp to 325.

While crust is cooling, in a large bowl, beat all filling ingredients except eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute or until smooth. On low speed, beat in eggs until well blended. Pour over crust; smooth top.

Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 25 minutes or until edge is set and center is still soft. Turn off oven; leave oven door open about 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes. Remove from oven; cool in pan on cooling rack away from drafts for 30 minutes.

Without releasing or removing the side of pan, run metal spatula carefully along side of cheesecake to loosen. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. Cover and continue refrigerating at least 9 hours but no longer than 48 hours.

In 1 1/2 quart saucepan, mix sauce ingredients. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened.

To serve, run metal spatula along side of cheesecake to loosen again; remove side of pan. Serve with warm sauce.
Store cheesecake and sauce covered in the refrigerator.


I made my own crust by crushing graham crackers

and used lots of cream cheese

and it was very thick

and plopped onto the crust

and out it came. (looking kind of like a petri dish with mold spores YIKES. but it tasted good...really)

but on the plate it looked pretty good.

I would make it again. Especially for the holidays.