Akram’s Ideas is all about bringing “Creative” and “Crazy” ideas to life. Sometimes the crazy ideas turn out to be more crazier than expected, and with not so successful results.
Today’s blog post is one of those crazy ideas gone wrong, yes the story of my Avocado Cheesecake.
In truth I wasn’t even going to blog about this, but got asked by several people about the recipe so I thought I’d share.
This whole idea sprang from a magazine ad I saw about a year ago advertising the incredible avocado. This particular ad featured a recipe for an avocado cheesecake. Since I love avocado’s I thought that a cheesecake would be interesting.
I must admit I was a little leery of the idea, though I love avocado, I usually have it as a savory side to meals, never sweet.
Anyways, time passes and I knew I still wanted to make the avocado cheesecake, I just hadn’t gotten the courage. Then last week or so, I was like what the heck let’s do it.
I decided to make this on total whim, so I didn’t’ really take any decent pictures of the process, so instead I’m showing some random avocado photo’s I’ve taken.
It had been a year since I last saw the recipe in the magazine and couldn’t remember where it was I found it. So, instead I just got online and looked up a recipe.
I discovered that there are a lot of different recipes for making avocado cheesecake. I ultimately decided to go with a no-bake cheesecake found on the Food Network’s site , since it seemed quick and easy.
One of the things I liked about this particular recipe is the inclusion of lime and lemon juice, since I knew how well they go with avocados.
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 medium hass avocados
- 1 8 -ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 14 -ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
- Whipped cream or confectioners' sugar, for garnish (optional)
- Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush an 8-inch springform pan with some of the melted butter. Mix the remaining butter with the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and salt in a bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.
- Make the filling: Halve and pit the avocados, then scoop out the flesh and chop. Transfer to a bowl, add the cream cheese and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the condensed milk, lime and lemon juices, and the salt and beat until fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed. Pour the filling into the crust, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface and chill at least 4 hours.
- Remove the springform ring and slice the pie. Garnish with whipped cream or confectioners' sugar, if desired, and serve immediately (the top will start to brown as the pie sits).
Then I whipped them in my mixer with some cream cheese. At this point I was curious about the avocado and the cream cheese, so I took a small sampling.
The avocado and cream cheese mixture alone wasn’t bad, in fact if you were to add a little seasoning it would be really good as a spread on a bagel topped with a tomato and maybe some basil.
So, far so good, next was the condensed milk and juices. This is when I decided sweet and savory don’t mix. It just didn’t taste right together.
Despite my thoughts, I figured I’d pour it in the graham cracker crust, and let is set over night to firm up.
The next morning I topped this creation with Cool Whip and lemon and lime slices and took it up to work. I told everyone I had brought an avocado cheesecake and got some interesting responses.
Of all my co-workers, 20% actually like the cake. Another 30% said it was different, which probably is just a nice way of saying they didn’t like it. Finally the last 50% were just too afraid to even try it.
My personal opinions I guess I have to actually go with different. It’s not make you gag bad, it just feels like your eating two different foods at the same time, as if there is a separation between the sweet cheesecake and savory avocado.
I can’t explain it better than that. Despite my issues with the avocado cheesecake, I might experiment some more with avocados.
As for right now though I make the best guacamole!
Add comment