Churro Cheesecake with Blackberry Sauce has all the luscious creaminess of traditional cheesecake without being too rich thanks to the addition of a generous amount of bright citrus!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour45 minutesminutes
cooling and chilling 8 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Servings 12servings
Calories 426kcal
Author Tristin Rieken
Ingredients
1 ½poundscream cheesesoftened
4largeeggs
1 ¼cupgranulated sugar
⅓cupgreek yogurtplain
2mediumlimes
1mediumlemon
¼teaspoonsalt
4cupsCinnamon Toast Crunch cereal5 ounces
½cupunsalted butter1 stick, melted and cooled
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Zest and juice lemons and limes. Mix together juices and measure out ¼ cup, reserve remaining for another use. Mix zest together and measure 1 tablespoon, again, reserve remaining for another use.
Pulse ¼ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon zest with ¼ cup sugar until the zest is very fine. Add remaining 1 cup of sugar and pulse to mix. Remove citrus sugar from food processor and set aside.
Without wiping out the bowl of the food processor, process cinnamon cereal until fine. Then, drizzle in all but 1 tablespoon of the cool melted butter and pulse until combined. Sprinkle the mixture into a 9 inch springform pan. Press into an even layer using the bottom of a measuring cup. Reserve the 1 tablespoon butter to brush the inside of the pan later. Bake until fragrant and beginning to brown, 12-15 minutes. Then remove and let cool at room temperature, about 30 minutes. Once cool, wrap the outside of the pan with 2 sheets of aluminum foil and set in a large pan with a dish towel on the bottom to prevent the cake from sliding around when baking. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Meanwhile, beat cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth, 1 to 3 minutes. Scraping down sides as needed. Mix salt with the lemon sugar mixture and beat into the cream cheese until fully incorporated. Once again scraping down when needed. Add the ¼ of mixed citrus juice and beat until incorporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time until fully incorporated. Lastly add greek yogurt and again beat 1 to 3 minutes.
Being careful not to disturb the baked and cooled crust, brush the inside of the springform pan with reserved 1 tablespoon butter. Then carefully pour the filling into the pan. Set the pan, with the cheesecake, on the oven rack and pour the boiling water halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the cheesecake is no longer jiggly and is lightly browned on the top, 1 ½ hours.
Remove and let the cheesecake cool undisturbed in the roasting pan for 45 minutes. Then, remove from water bath and transfer to a wire rack. Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake and cool until barely warm, about 3 hours. Wrap the pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 4 days.
To unmold the cheesecake, wrap a wet hot kitchen towel around the cake pan and let it sit for 1 minute. Unlatch the sides of the pan and carefully slide the cake onto a cake platter. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
Wipe down knife after each slice and serve with a drizzle of blackberry sauce.