Ginger Honey Cheesecake

In fact, the name of this cheesecake is Honey & Ginger Cheesecake. My rework of the name is a nod to Gilligan's Island. You fill in the rest. This is the penultimate payday cheesecake I will make for work. After five years of cheesecakes and other payday desserts, I am calling it quits.

The crust for this cake is made with ginger snap crumbs and melted butter. The crust mixture is pressed into the cheesecake pan and then it is frozen.

The batter begins with two packages cream cheese and a cup of sour cream. I have been struggling lately with cracks appearing on my cheesecakes, so I mixed the cheese and cream on medium-low speed, to minimize the amount of air that would be incorporated. Next came flour, brown sugar and honey. When that was fully blended in (again on slow speed), two eggs were added, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Ground cinnamon and ginger were mixed in next. Finally, the recipe calls for candied ginger, minced. Well, I have some ginger candy. That would have to do. I chopped it up and folded it into the batter. By hand.

The batter is poured over the frozen crust and bakes at 325° for 55-65 minutes. I lowered the temperature by 25° from what the recipe said because I read that 325° was at the upper maximum for baking cheesecakes, without cracking them. Or drying them out.

After an hour, I removed the cake from the oven, only to find a crack. A fairly small one, but a crack nonetheless. Not the yawning abyss that developed on the cheesecake I made for Benton County Mental Health earlier in the month. But a crack nonetheless.

Bon appétit!