Lavender Cheesecake Squares Food

LAVENDER CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F, and grease a 9-inch springform pan. Whisk graham cracker crumbs, margarine, salt and 1/4 cup of the sugar together in a medium bowl until combined. Press firmly onto bottom of the pan (or up the sides, if desired). Bake for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool. Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees F.
• Once the pan reaches room temperature, carefully wrap the outside of the pan in 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, being sure that there are NO gaps where water could seep through. Place the pan in a large roasting dish (or any pan larger than the springform), and bring a tea kettle or pot of water to boil in preparation for the water bath. Set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed for 3 minutes until smooth. Add the remaining 1-1/4 cup sugar and beat for an additional minute until well blended. Add Greek yogurt, vanilla and lavender (and earl grey tea, if using), and beat for an additional minute, stopping partway to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until blended. Do not overbeat! Pour into crust.
• Place the double pans in the oven on a shelf on the bottom third of the oven. Very carefully use a tea kettle (or large measuring cup) to pour the boiling water in the larger pan to form a water bath around the springform, so that it comes up about 1-inch around the springform.
• Close the oven door, and bake about 1 hour 40 min, or until center is almost set. (The center of the cake should still jiggle ever so slightly.) Turn oven off, and open oven door slightly. Let cheesecake set in oven 1 hour. Then remove cheesecake from oven, carefully run a knife around the edges of the cake, and then let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove springform rim, and top cheesecake with whipped cream just before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.
• To make earl grey homemade whipped cream, first bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add a tea bag and steep for 4 minutes, then remove the tea bag. Refrigerate cream until cool. Then follow these simple instructions for how to make homemade whipped cream.

LAVENDER CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• To make crust, crumb the graham crackers.
• Stir in the powdered sugar and butter until well blended.
• Press mixture into 9" springform pan, going halfway up the sides.
• Bake crust at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, let cool before filling.
• To make lavender syrup, mix sugar and water in a saucepan.
• Add lavender to water (you don't need to use the whole package, I used about 3/4 pkg).
• Simmer until you have a heavy syrup (approx reduced by half).
• Remove lavender buds (place buds on a plate to cool and crystallize for use as decoration if desired). You now have the lavender syrup used in later steps.
• To make filling, soften the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl (it helps to remove from refrigerator a little beforehand).
• Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing in well after each addition.
• Mix in sour cream.
• Mix in vanilla and lavender syrup.
• Whisk eggs and yolks in a small bowl.
• Add egg mixture to batter and mix in until just mixed.
• Fold in whipped cream taking care not to over mix.
• Pour into cooled crust.
• Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
• Reduce heat to 225 degrees and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
• Turn off heat and open oven door slightly, let cool in oven 30 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool on the counter 30 minutes.
• At this point it should be cool enough to run a knife around the outside to make sure it has separated from the pan and remove the springform side.
• Leave on pan bottom and refrigerate for 3 hours.
• To make frosting, mix sour cream and sugar, sweetening to taste.
• Spread on top of chilled cheesecake to make a smooth flat surface, quantity of sweetened sour cream may need to be adjusted depending on amount of shrinkage in the middle.
• To make piping, whisk together lavender syrup and cornstarch in a saucepan.
• Add lemon juice and water.
• Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens.
• Color with food dye to desired shade of purple (or whatever you prefer).
• Let cool before decorating.

LAVENDER-LEMON CHEESECAKE SQUARES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F.
• Bring large saucepan of water to boil; pour into casserole dish. Place on bottom oven rack. (This acts as a makeshift water bath and turns the oven into a "steam room," to help prevent the cheesecake from cracking as it bakes.)
• Combine cracker crumbs, butter and brown sugar; press onto bottom of parchment-lined 13x9-inch baking dish.
• Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add granulated sugar; mix well. Add all remaining ingredients except eggs; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended.
• Pour over crust.
• Bake 1 hour 5 min. or until center of cheesecake is almost set.
• Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven, with door partially open, 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven; cool completely.
• Refrigerate 2 hours. Use parchment handles to remove cheesecake from baking dish before cutting into squares to serve.

LAVENDER CHEESECAKE SQUARES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• CRUST: Butter an 8" square baking dish.
• In a bowl cream the butter and brown sugar together. Stir in the flour, pecans and lavender.
• *Reserve* 1 cup of the crust mixture. Press the remaining mixture into the baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
• FILLING: While the crust bakes, prepare the filling by beating together the white sugar and cream cheese. Next beat in the egg, milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth.
• Pour the filling into the baked crust then sprinkle evenly with the reserved crust topping.
• Bake 25 minutes. Remove from rack and cool 10 minutes. To serve, cut into squares and place on cake platter. Garnish with fresh lavender sprigs if desired.
• Keep stored in refrigerator; covered well.