Amaretto Chocolate Cheesecake

FILLING
6 oz Chocolate, semisweet 1 1/2 lb Cream cheese
7 oz Amaretti -(room temperature)
4 oz Almond paste 4 lg Eggs
1/3 C Amaretto liqueur 1/2 C Heavy cream
1/4 C Sugar, granulated

MAKE CRUST: Butter the sides only (not the bottom) of a 9-inch spring-form
pan (about 2 1/2 to 3 inches deep). Grind the Amaretti very fine in a food
processor or blender. Mix with sugar in a mixing bowl.

Melt the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler, stirring
occasionally. Add the melted mixture to the Amaretti crumbs and sugar and
mix thoroughly. (Don’t wash the double boiler; you’ll be using it again in
a minute.)

Turn the mixture into the prepared pan. With your fingers, distribute it
evenly over the bottom and press it down into a very firm, compact layer.
Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

MAKE FILLING: Adjust rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven and preheat
to 350 degrees F. Partially melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler,
then uncover and stir until completely melted. Remove the top of the double
boiler and set aside to cool.

Break the Amaretti coarsely into a bowl and set aside. Cut the almond
paste into small pieces, and beat on low speed with an electric mixer,
while gradually adding the Amaretto liqueur. Beat until thoroughly mixed
and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar
and beat until smooth again. Add the almond paste-Amaretto mixture and beat
until thoroughly mixed. Add the melted chocolate and beat well again. Add
the eggs one at a time, beating at low speed until they are incorporated
after each addition. Add the heavy cream and beat until smooth. Add the
coarsely broken Amaretti and stir gently only to mix.

Turn into the prepared pan, pouring the mixture over the bottom crust.
Rotate the pan gently to level the batter. (Don’t worry if the mixture
comes almost to the top; it won’t run over.)

Bake 45 minutes. It will seem soft and not done, but don’t bake any more;
it will become firm when chilled. The top of the cake is supposed to look
bumpy because of the large chunks of Amaretti. Let cool completely at room
temperature, then carefully remove the sides of the pan and refrigerate the
cake (still on the bottom of the pan) for 4 to 6 hours, or overnight.

NOTES:

* This is adapted from Maida Heatter’s “Book of Great Chocolate Desserts,”
(Knopf 1980). It won me a blue ribbon at the Martha’s Vineyard
Agricultural Exhibition and Fair in 1983. If you ever find yourself in
front of a firing squad, this makes an unbeatable last request.

* Amaretti are Italian almond-flavored wafer cookies. They are usually
sold in metal tins with the wafers wrapped in packages of two inside the
tin. You can also buy Amarettini, which are the same flavor but much
smaller and not individually wrapped. Since you’re going to grind some of
the wafers and break the others into chunks, it doesn’t matter which size
you start with. One brand is Amaretti di Saronna, Lazzaroni & Co.

* This is an expensive cake, both in terms of the cost of the ingredients
($15-$20) and the number of calories.

: Difficulty: moderate to hard.
: Time: 30 minutes preparation, 45 minutes baking, overnight cooling.
: Precision: measure ingredients carefully.

: Jan Wolitzky
: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA
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