I am chagrined. I missed our neighbour’s open house. Not only is this party the best place to catch up with friends that we only see here, once a year, but also, my neighbour is famous for her killer eggnog. Creamy, frothy, spiked with rum and singing with nutmeg, it is delicious, potent and requires several return visits to the punch bowl just to be sure it’s as good as you think it is. (It is.)
Having missed out on hers, I just had to make my own.
Then, having made eggnog, I just had to make eggnog cheesecake.
I discovered in my research there are many, many ways to make both eggnog and eggnog cheesecake. I sifted through methods and ingredients and came up with variations on both themes that I’m quite happy with.
You don’t have to cook the eggnog: there are versions that incorporate whipped egg whites at the end, and versions that use raw eggs and whites. I wanted mine to last a bit longer, though, so I opted for the stovetop approach.
Similarly, you don’t have to use eggnog in an eggnog cheesecake. Many of the recipes I found that did use eggnog in the filling called for the addition of flour. Who needs flour in a cheesecake filling? So, along with TV food star Ricardo, I went with sour cream, plus lots of nutmeg and lots of rum to get the full eggnog flavour.
Finally, I was worried about cracks in the top of the cheesecake. So I made a little cranberry rum sauce in case the cracks needed disguising. Many recipes advised wrapping heavy tinfoil around the pan and placing it in a water bath to avoid the surface cracking as it cooked, but I didn’t want the palaver. I can live with a few cracks. Put the sauce on the top, on the side, or eliminate it altogether.
Finally, If you plan to make this for the holidays, be sure to do it on a day when you don’t need the oven for hours and hours for other things, like large roasts or long braises. Cheesecake wants the oven to itself.
Eggnog, Rum Sauce And Cheesecake!
Ingredients
- Eggnog Recipe
- Ingredients
- 3 cups milk 2% or 3.5%
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg more to taste
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup 35% cream
- 1/2 cup dark rum
- Eggnog Cheesecake
- Ingredients
- Crust
- 2 cups gingersnap crumbs substitute graham wafers and ½ tsp powdered ginger
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- Filling
- 3 8- oz packages 24 oz full-fat cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 Tbsp dark rum *substitute: 2 tsp vanilla
- Cranberry-Rum Sauce
- Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups low-bush cranberries
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 Tbsp dark rum
Instructions
- Eggnog Recipe
- Combine milk and nutmeg in a medium saucepan and heat over medium, just until steaming.
- In the meantime, whisk eggs, salt and sugar together in a heatproof bowl, until lemony in colour.
- Once milk is steaming, pour it slowly into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour egg/milk mixture back into the pot and cook, stirring constantly with a spoon, until the mixture coats the back of the spoon and has reached 160 F on an instant-read thermometer.
- Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. Add 1 cup 35% and ½ cup dark rum and stir until combined. Cool the eggnog to room temperature before pouring into jars and refrigerating. Store in the refrigerator and consume within a week.
- When it comes time to serve, add an optional 1 oz of rum to each 6-oz serving.
- Eggnog Cheesecake Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 300 F. Butter a 9-inch round, removeable-rim baking pan on bottom and sides. Cut parchment paper to fit bottom and sides, and butter the parchment before lining the pan.
- For the crust, whisk gingersnap crumbs and sugar together in a medium bowl. Stir in melted butter and combine thoroughly. Reserve 2 Tbsp of mixture for sprinkling on top of the cake.
- Press crust into the bottom of the prepared pan, using the backs of the fingers or a flat-bottomed jar or glass. Place pan in the freezer to chill while you prepare the filling.
- For filling, cut blocks of cream cheese into 8 pieces each. Place in a food processor with the sour cream and process until smooth—don’t sweat it too much at this stage.
- Add sugar and process until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and process until blended.
- Add salt, nutmeg and rum and blend until smooth—this is the time to ensure there are no lumps.
- Pour filling evenly into the prepared crust, smoothing with the back of a spoon if necessary. Gently tap the pan on the counter a couple of times to release any air bubbles. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs evenly over top.
- Bake for 45 minutes, until the sides of the cake are set and the middle is still a bit jiggly.
- Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside with the door closed for 45 minutes. (Put a note on the controls so no one turns on the oven by mistake.) Open the door sightly and leave for another 30 minutes. *This should help you achieve a cheesecake with no cracks in the surface, but there is no guarantee, and besides, a cracked cheesecake is “rustique,” to quote a dear friend and fellow baker.
- Cool cake in the pan for 30 minutes before removing the rim and parchment paper. Once it has reached room temperature, chill for several hours before serving.
- Cranberry-Rum Sauce
- Combine sugar and cranberries in a small pot and stir to combine. Place over medium-low heat and cook until thick, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
- Remove from heat and stir in rum.
- Serve warm or cold. Will keep for several weeks in refrigerator.
