Last week we had 2 rainy days back to back over the New Years holiday.  What better to do on a rainy day than cook?  I had some cream cheese in the refrigerator and decided it was time to make a leap with my Sharp micro/convection oven and try to make a cheesecake.  I must admit that I was quite intimidated using this oven for the first year.  There are some things that are easy to make, like pizza, or anything else that bakes for less than 20 minutes.  The instructions that came with the microwave indicated that up to 20 minutes you can use the convection setting.  Once you get past 20 minutes you will dry out your food.  This is where the combination settings come into play.  In the first year I made great use of the “low mix” setting.  You use this setting for “low density” foods like cakes.  When I make a cake I use low mix with the same temperature setting I normally would and decrease the time to 1/2.  It’s pretty sweet when you can cook a full size bundt cake in 30 minutes.

Lemon Bundt Cake- someone was giving away free lemons in the campground!

I have a great silicone bundt pan that I have used extensively.  I have 2 6 cup silicone muffin tins, and I am able to use both by putting one on the bottom of the micro/convection and the other on top of the high shelf.  

This past summer I had purchased a silicone springform pan.  The pan is glass on the bottom and silicone on the outer edge.  The glass on the bottom of this pan makes a great serving plate.  Unlike metal springform pans you don’t have to worry about scratching the bottom of the pan when you cut it.  This will be my springform pan for home too.  

This is a great pan.  The glass fits into the deep groove in the silicone and the black lock slides down and holds it all securely

Recipe:

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups of chocolate cookies crushed– I couldn’t find chocolate cookies so I used chocolate graham crackers.  I crushed them up in my magic bullet
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1/3 cup butter melted
  • Mix the crumbs, sugar and butter and press onto the bottom and up the sides of the 9 inch springform pan.
  • Bake at 325 on convection for 10 minutes

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 TBSP orange flavored liqueur
• 1/2 tsp grated orange peel
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate melted and cooled slightly
  • Beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended
  • Add eggs one at a time
  • Blend in orange peel and liqueur
  • Set aside 2-cups of the batter- add the melted chocolate into this
  • Pour remaining batter over crust
  • Add chocolate batter by spoonfuls on top of cream cheese batter
  • Cut through batter with a knife to create a swirled effect.
  • Bake at low mix 325 degrees for 45 minutes
  • Let cheesecake cool for 4-hours or overnight.

John and I both agreed that the cheesecake came out excellent, so we will be trying out some of our other cheesecake recipes we haven’t used since we have been on the road.