I’ve only made one cheesecake recipe in my entire life, possibly the best there is: Aunt Mary’s Cheesecake. That recipe, however, will remain a family secret. Earlier this month when we were in Bodega Bay, we had a wonderful crème fraiche cheesecake at the Terrapin Creek Café. Although we did not get the recipe from the owner, I found a couple of promising ones and decided to try a variation on one of them, using lavender as a flavoring ingredient. The recipe I liked best had the same crust recipe I use, which seemed like a good sign. It also was lighter on sugar than some of the others, also good, I thought.I started on Friday by making some crème fraiche—1 cup of heavy cream heated to about 100 degrees, plus 1 teaspoon of buttermilk. I let it sit out all night, and it was pretty good, but next time I’ll do it two days ahead. The recipe suggested individual-size spring form pans, which had been used by the restaurant, but our local housewares store didn’t have them, so I used my 9-inch pan. Here’s the recipe I came up with:
Crust: 18 squares (1 package) of crushed graham crackers
¼ cup of sugar
¼ cup of melted butter
I crushed the graham crackers in my food processor and then added the sugar and butter; pressing them into a spring form pan was easier than using a pie plate, as I normally do.
I soaked three chopped lavender flowers in ¼ cup of warmed heavy cream for about 20 minutes and then strained it and added it to the following mixture:
Filling: 12 ounces of cream cheese (Philadelphia brand)
1 cup of crème fraiche
½ cup of sugar
2 eggs
I considered adding vanilla, which most cheesecake recipes call for, but I liked the faint lavender flavor and decided not to. More sugar might have been possible, too, but I decided to try it this time with only half a cup—if it’s good that way, I may experiment with lowering the amount in my regular cheesecake! I baked it at 325 degrees for about 50 minutes and let it sit in the turned-off oven another 5 or 10—the top was lightly browned. As with my other cheesecake, I will refrigerate it overnight and serve it tomorrow.
