This Autumnal Dessert Is the Excellent Mash-Up of Candy Potato Pie and Cheesecake

Right here within the northern hemisphere, the autumnal equinox marks the start of fall. Daylight wanes, the solar travels south for the winter, and pumpkin spice mania slowly descends upon all. Like pumpkins, candy potatoes are one other fixture on the vacation desk: We take pleasure in them boiled, mashed, roasted, fried, and within the American South, in pie.

It’s exhausting to match a basic like candy potato pie. Earthy, wealthy, aromatic, however surprisingly gentle in texture, it’s the right ending to in any other case heavy meals throughout Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nonetheless, candy potatoes are nice for extra than simply pie. Their candy, caramel-like aroma and creamy texture lend themselves to desserts like pudding, fudge, cake, and even ice cream. So how about cheesecake? And never simply your run-of-the-mill, paltry slice of cheesecake: An enormous slab of cheesecake brimming with candy potato taste, drenched in caramel sauce simply because you may.

The foundations of this cheesecake come from Stella Parks’s iconic recipes for Epic New York Fashion Cheesecake and Lemon-Ricotta Cheesecake. As an alternative of goat cheese or ricotta, I substitute fifty p.c of the “cheese” within the cheesecake with roasted candy potatoes. The truth is, this can be a good spot to make use of frozen roasted candy potatoes, that are sweeter and extra intensely flavored than historically roasted or boiled candy potatoes. As a way to mix the cream cheese and candy potatoes right into a seamless combination, I take advantage of a meals processor, which retains the feel uniform and properly emulsified, and limits air pockets within the baked cheesecake.

Mixing Candy Potatoes for the Smoothest Texture

As a result of candy potatoes are comparatively starchy and grainy, it’s essential to mix the combination within the meals processor for a number of minutes. This prolonged processing is not simply mixing; it ends in a a lot smoother texture that is unachievable utilizing a stand mixer. As well as, the majority of the sweetness on this recipe comes from maple syrup, which improves that smoothness by scaling down the batter barely because it blends. (The syrup additionally enhances the earthiness of the candy potatoes in a basic, seasonally applicable manner.)

As with Stella’s lemon-ricotta cheesecake, I discovered it was greatest to bake it low and sluggish at 225°F. This average temperature produces a dense cheesecake with a silky, extra uniform texture. The cheesecake finishes baking when the middle reaches an inner temperature of 155°F, at which level the perimeters are set however the heart continues to be wobbly.

A Luxurious Ending Contact

Whereas this cheesecake is scrumptious in its personal proper, I couldn’t resist the chance to gild the lily, so I high the cheesecake with a beneficiant serving to of caramel sauce made with maple syrup and toasted walnuts, which cascades down the perimeters of the cheesecake. As a result of maple syrup is generally sucrose, it tends to recrystallize because it cools if you happen to cook dinner it, turning the sauce grainy and opaque. Utilizing an invert sugar similar to gentle corn syrup or Lyle’s golden syrup helps to curb that impact, and the sauce will keep easy and shiny. Eaten collectively, this mix of candy potato cheesecake and caramel lives as much as the requirements of any nice vacation dessert: It’s comforting, it’s satisfying, it’s someway nostalgic. And also you’ll in all probability have to take a stroll in your sweatpants after ending it.

November 2021