Blueberry Cheesecake (Reduced Sugar)
By America's Test KitchenPublished on April 19, 2020
Time
2½ hours, plus 4¾ hours cooling, 3 hours chilling, and 30 minutes resting
Yield
Serves 12
Sugar
15 grams (down from 35)
Ingredients
Crust
3 tablespoons (1 ounces/28 grams) Sucanat 6 whole graham crackers, broken into pieces2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooledFilling
⅓ cup plus ¼ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) Sucanat 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons juice1½ pounds (680 grams) cream cheese, softened¼ teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 4 large eggs ½ cup heavy creamTopping
1 tablespoon unsalted butter 10 ounces (283 grams/2 cups) frozen blueberries 2 tablespoons Sucanat Pinch salt ½ teaspoon lemon juiceBefore You Begin
You can learn more about Sucanat in this article. You can use fresh blueberries in the topping if desired; crush one-third of the fresh berries after adding them to the pot. For neat, professional-looking pieces of cake, clean the knife thoroughly between slices. Do not skip grinding the Sucanat in steps 1 and 3, or the crust will be crumbly and the filling will taste gritty.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9-inch springform pan. Grind Sucanat in spice grinder until fine and powdery, about 1 minute. Process cracker pieces in food processor until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Add ground Sucanat and melted butter and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened, about 10 pulses.
- Transfer mixture to prepared pan and press into even layer with bottom of dry measuring cup. Bake crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Let crust cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Do not turn off oven. Once cool, wrap bottom and sides of pan with 2 sheets of foil and set in large roasting pan lined with dish towel. Bring kettle of water to boil.
- Working in 2 batches, grind Sucanat and lemon zest in spice grinder until Sucanat is fine and powdery, about 1 minute. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat ground Sucanat mixture, cream cheese, and salt on medium speed until combined, 1 to 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and vanilla and beat until combined, about 1 minute, scraping down bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined, about 3 minutes. Add heavy cream and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Strain filling through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl, using rubber spatula to help push filling through strainer. Carefully pour filling over crust. Set roasting pan on oven rack and pour enough boiling water into roasting pan to come about halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake until cake registers 150 degrees, about 1 hour.
- Transfer roasting pan to wire rack, run paring knife around cake, and let cool for 45 minutes. Remove cake from roasting pan, discard foil, and let cool on wire rack until barely warm, about 3 hours, running knife around edge of cake every hour or so. Cover cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.
- Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add blueberries, Sucanat, and salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice and let cool to room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- To unmold cheesecake, wrap hot dish towel around pan and let sit for 1 minute. Remove sides of pan. Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving platter. Let cheesecake sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Before serving, spoon topping over top of cheesecake.
for the crust
for the filling
for the topping
Time
2½ hours, plus 4¾ hours cooling, 3 hours chilling, and 30 minutes restingYield
Serves 12Sugar
15 grams (down from 35)Ingredients
Crust
Filling
Topping
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
Topping
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
Topping
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
We knew we wanted to incorporate blueberries; we hoped that their natural sweetness and beautiful color would complement the tangy cream cheese. We tested incorporating the berries in two ways: pureeing the berries and stirring them into the filling and folding them into the filling as whole berries. Tasters loved the flavor of the blueberries, but in test after test, our cheesecake came out a wan lavender color with spots from the berry skins or pockets of tough blueberries punctuating our silky cream cheese filling. We decided instead to take the blueberries out of the filling and make them into a topping. We made a simple compote, cooking down the blueberries with a little Sucanat to create a topping that would slowly run down the sides of our cake without being too wet. We then focused on the filling itself. Lemon zest seemed like the perfect counterpoint to the cream cheese and blueberries; grinding it with the Sucanat ensured that we didn’t end up with chewy strands of zest in the cake. We strained the filling to get rid of any grainy bits and cooked the cake in a water bath to ensure an even silkier texture. Cooking the cheesecake to 150 degrees instead of waiting for visual cues made our recipe more foolproof.
Before You Begin
You can learn more about Sucanat in this article. You can use fresh blueberries in the topping if desired; crush one-third of the fresh berries after adding them to the pot. For neat, professional-looking pieces of cake, clean the knife thoroughly between slices. Do not skip grinding the Sucanat in steps 1 and 3, or the crust will be crumbly and the filling will taste gritty.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9-inch springform pan. Grind Sucanat in spice grinder until fine and powdery, about 1 minute. Process cracker pieces in food processor until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Add ground Sucanat and melted butter and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened, about 10 pulses.
- Transfer mixture to prepared pan and press into even layer with bottom of dry measuring cup. Bake crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Let crust cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Do not turn off oven. Once cool, wrap bottom and sides of pan with 2 sheets of foil and set in large roasting pan lined with dish towel. Bring kettle of water to boil.
- Working in 2 batches, grind Sucanat and lemon zest in spice grinder until Sucanat is fine and powdery, about 1 minute. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat ground Sucanat mixture, cream cheese, and salt on medium speed until combined, 1 to 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and vanilla and beat until combined, about 1 minute, scraping down bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined, about 3 minutes. Add heavy cream and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Strain filling through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl, using rubber spatula to help push filling through strainer. Carefully pour filling over crust. Set roasting pan on oven rack and pour enough boiling water into roasting pan to come about halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake until cake registers 150 degrees, about 1 hour.
- Transfer roasting pan to wire rack, run paring knife around cake, and let cool for 45 minutes. Remove cake from roasting pan, discard foil, and let cool on wire rack until barely warm, about 3 hours, running knife around edge of cake every hour or so. Cover cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.
- Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add blueberries, Sucanat, and salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice and let cool to room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- To unmold cheesecake, wrap hot dish towel around pan and let sit for 1 minute. Remove sides of pan. Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving platter. Let cheesecake sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Before serving, spoon topping over top of cheesecake.
for the crust
for the filling
for the topping
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