Indulge in the delectable fusion of flavors with Chef John's enticing video on creating Butternut Squash Cheesecake. Learn the step-by-step process of crafting this unique dessert, blending creamy cheesecake with the rich, earthy taste of butternut squash. Join to master the art of this seasonal delight and delight your taste buds.
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00:00 Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Butternut Squash Cheesecake!
00:07 That's right, we're making cheesecake with winter squash, which might not sound like
00:12 a great idea.
00:13 But, if you want a cheesecake that's lighter, more flavorful, and just as rich and decadent,
00:19 then it is a great idea.
00:21 Maybe even a genius idea!
00:23 And to get started, the first thing we'll do is roast some butternut squash, which I
00:28 usually cut in half lengthwise.
00:30 But this time, after trimming off the end, I'm just going to cut nice thick slices across
00:34 like this, which I think might be a little safer prep for your average home cook.
00:39 And then besides cutting, the only other thing we'll do is take out the seeds, although some
00:44 folks like to roast this as is and remove the seeds later.
00:47 So if you'd rather do that, go ahead.
00:50 I mean, you are after all the chairman of the board of how to de-seed your gourd.
00:55 But I find doing it before roasting a little easier.
00:58 But either way, once that's cut, scooped, and placed on a parchment lined baking sheet,
01:02 we will roast that at 400 degrees for about an hour or so, or until our butternut squash
01:08 is very soft and tender, and probably looks like this.
01:12 And of course, we're going to test that with the tip of a knife, since we try not to guess
01:16 in the kitchen.
01:18 And once we're sure that's cooked long enough, we'll simply let that sit and cool, while
01:22 we move on to prep our springform pan, which we will generously oil first.
01:27 And what we'll do is flip that over, and then fold up a paper airplane, but with no wings,
01:33 which I guess makes it a paper rocket.
01:35 But anyway, if we place the tip in the center, and then make a cut right at the edge, once
01:40 we unfold that, we should have the perfect size circle to cover the bottom, which we
01:45 will place and press in to coat it with some oil.
01:48 And then we'll flip it over, and then we'll smooth and press that out, until it's very,
01:53 very well secured to the bottom.
01:55 And that's it.
01:56 Once our pan's set, we'll go back to our squash, which should be cool enough to handle at this
02:00 point, but you'll know for sure if it is, because you won't get burned.
02:05 And you'll see as I flip this one over, how we got some beautiful caramelization.
02:10 And yes, we're going to scoop and use all of this, except of course for the skin.
02:14 And once we have that transferred into a bowl, we'll go ahead and take a potato masher,
02:18 and mash this nice and smooth.
02:20 And of course, if you want to use a food processor, you might get something a little bit smoother,
02:25 but I don't think it matters, or at least not enough to have to clean the food processor.
02:30 But anyway, we'll go ahead and give that a nice mashing, and then set it aside, at which
02:34 point we will move on to our cheesecake batter, which starts with some very soft, room temperature
02:39 cream cheese, to which we will add a touch of white sugar, plus a little bit of all-purpose
02:45 flour, and then we can also add our salt at this point.
02:49 And once everything's in, we'll grab a spatula, and we will mix and mash and cream all this
02:53 together until we have a beautiful, smooth mixture, which is super fast and easy if your
02:58 cream cheese is actually soft.
03:00 But as usual, I did not take mine out of the fridge early enough.
03:04 And if that happens to you, just simply fast forward a few minutes, to when it actually
03:09 became nice and soft and easy to work with.
03:12 But anyway, the point is, use soft cream cheese, and then mix it together until it's smooth
03:16 like this.
03:17 And then once it is, we will stop, and we'll add a little bit of maple syrup, plus exactly
03:22 1 1/2 cups of our roasted mashed butternut squash.
03:26 And if we were making a soup or something, I wouldn't say exactly a cup and a half, because
03:30 it wouldn't really matter.
03:31 But for baked stuff like this, we kind of have to be a little more exact.
03:36 And then we will also at this point toss in our spices, which will include a little bit
03:40 of cinnamon, some ground ginger, and some freshly grated nutmeg.
03:46 And we are using a very light touch with the spice.
03:48 Generally, people put in way too much of these spices when they're making these kind of things,
03:53 and it just overpowers everything.
03:55 So we want to be careful.
03:57 And that's it.
03:58 We can go ahead and take a whisk, or one of these hand mixers, and we'll blend this all
04:01 together, starting off slowly at first.
04:05 And then once it comes together, we can finish on a higher speed.
04:08 And then once that's been accomplished, we'll go ahead and toss in our real pure vanilla
04:12 extract plus five whole large eggs that we're going to blend in one at a time, allegedly.
04:19 OK, I would definitely mix in the first couple one at a time.
04:23 But as you can see here, I added the third and fourth ones all at once.
04:28 And nothing bad happened.
04:30 But better safe than sorry.
04:31 And if we did try to add all five at once and start blending, the mixture might separate.
04:37 But anyway, we'll incorporate those eggs in as shown.
04:40 And once that last one has been mixed in, we will finish up with our final ingredient,
04:45 some heavy cream.
04:47 And then as soon as that's been mixed in, we will grab a spatula and transfer this into
04:51 our prepared pan.
04:52 Oh, and by the way, since we're using the Bast style cheesecake method, we don't have
04:57 to make any crust, since the cheesecake kind of makes its own as we cook this at a very
05:02 high temperature.
05:03 OK, usually, cheesecakes are cooked very low and slow in a water bath and then left
05:08 to cool slowly in the oven.
05:10 All of that so we don't get a crack.
05:12 But for the Bast style method, we don't do any of that.
05:16 All right, all we're going to do after that's in is give this the old tapa tapa.
05:21 And then we're going to transfer it into the center of a 425 degree oven for about an hour.
05:27 And what was supposed to happen is this was supposed to all puff up and get really dark
05:32 and crack in like four or five different places, except none of that actually happened.
05:36 And when I pulled mine out, it looked like this, which looked great, but it did not look
05:40 anything like a Bast cheesecake, although it was pretty much set, except for a little
05:45 bit of a wiggle in the center.
05:47 But this did not do what I thought it was going to do, which is fine, except I knew
05:51 as this cooled because of the hot, fast cooking method, it was definitely going to crack.
05:57 So I mentally prepared myself.
05:59 Oh, and when we use a springform, when it comes out of the oven, while it's still hot,
06:03 I like to go around with a thin knife to make sure it's not sticking to the sides, since
06:08 this is going to contract in the pan as it cools.
06:11 So I want to make sure everything's going to be able to pull away from the metal.
06:15 And that's it.
06:16 I simply let it cool down before removing the ring.
06:19 And as predicted, as this cooled, some cracks formed.
06:22 But you know what?
06:23 I didn't care.
06:24 Mostly because in the near future, I'm going to be eating some cheesecake.
06:29 But anyway, cracks or not, we need to chill this completely before we try to cut and serve
06:33 it.
06:34 And I let mine chill overnight in the fridge, but just a few hours is fine.
06:38 And then once nice and cold, I pulled it out and transferred it onto this stand.
06:42 And at this point, you could just cut this into slices and serve it up.
06:46 And believe me, nobody's going to care about the cracks.
06:49 And if they do, stop making them cheesecake.
06:52 But if you are going to present this whole, and you are self-conscious about the cracks,
06:56 we can simply cover those up using something like these candied walnut halves, which I
07:01 strategically placed over.
07:03 I mean, cracks?
07:05 What cracks?
07:06 And of course, besides nuts, you can also use fruit or edible flowers or some other
07:12 kind of seasonally appropriate vegetation.
07:15 And in the spirit of full disclosure, as I was placing these on, my wife, Michelle, walked
07:19 by and said, "I'm pretty sure those are poisonous."
07:22 Which they might be, so after I took a couple pictures, I quickly pulled them off.
07:26 Anyway, the point is, do not put poisonous stuff on top of your cheesecake.
07:31 And that's it.
07:32 After fussing around with crack coverage, I cut and served up a nice slice, which I
07:37 decided to top with a little bit of whipped cream, as well as a few chopped up candied
07:41 walnuts.
07:42 And then as a final touch, believe it or not, to honor this cheesecake's savory main ingredient,
07:48 I finished with a couple shakes of cayenne.
07:51 Oh, yes I did.
07:53 And then once garnished, I grabbed a fork and dug in to what was a truly amazing bite
07:58 of cheesecake.
07:59 Okay, if you've ever had a pumpkin cheesecake, especially our version, which this recipe
08:04 is based on, I really do think you're going to love this, since it is similar.
08:10 Except while this was very rich and creamy, it was definitely lighter on the palate.
08:15 And that butternut squash definitely adds a little bit of sweetness, but also a little
08:19 bit of savoriness, and sort of a subtle vegetal component, that I found makes this much more
08:24 interesting than your typical cheesecake.
08:27 And as far as the texture goes, I don't think there's any difference at all between the
08:32 classic low and slow method, and this much higher heat, bass style method.
08:37 And yes, I'll add a link to the end of the video, so you can see an actual bass cheesecake,
08:41 so you can better understand what I've been talking about.
08:44 And even though that didn't work out exactly the same way here, the texture was still absolutely
08:48 perfect.
08:50 So if you're not concerned with a few cracks, I encourage you to try this easier, much faster
08:54 method.
08:56 Especially since even if you used a traditional method, and you go low and slow in a water
09:00 bath, and then let it cool in the oven, you will still sometimes get a crack.
09:05 But no matter what method you decide to use, you're going to end up with an amazing piece
09:09 of cheesecake.
09:11 Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.
09:15 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe and much
09:19 more info as usual.
09:21 And as always, enjoy!
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