Ricotta Amaretto Cheese Cake

        I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I know I did! My family takes turns hosting each holiday and Easter has always been my mom's holiday.  We had 28 all together this year which included, my cousin's new Vietnamese family, my in laws, grandmothers, siblings, and many cousins.  We also has a fun Easter Egg Hunt before the rain came down for the kids. 
        For food, my mom made marinated lamb, stuffed pork tenderloin, chicken cutlets, green beans, salad, corn, and gemelli pasta with homemade sauce.  In addition, we had an array of desserts, including a bunch of candy and cookies my cousin Michael brought back from Vietnam to share and a deliciously creamy Ricotta Amaretto Cheesecake.  Every Saturday I watch the cooking show "Ciao Italia," and one episode she made this cheesecake.  I adjusted the recipe just a little, one way being that I added a caramel drizzle topping with cookies instead of the lemon sauce with berries she added on her show.
Original Source: Ciao Italia
Please Click Here for Printable Version

Ingredients for Crust:

*50 small (1-inch) Amaretto Cookies (believe it or not I bought mine at Marshals, but you can try any Italian import store or Italian section of your grocery store).
*3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled

Procedure for crust:

*Whirl the cookies to a powder in a food processor 

* Add in the butter to evenly coat them.

* Wrap a large sheet of Aluminum Foil around the outside of the pan

* Pat the crumb mixture in the bottom of a 9 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch spring form pan and set aside.

Ingredients for Filling:

* 2 3/4 cup Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
* 1 1/4 cups Mascarpone Cheese
* 1/2 cup Sour Cream
* 1 cup Granulated Sugar
* 3 Large Eggs
* 1/4 teaspoon Salt
* 2 1/2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose Flour
* 1 teaspoon Pure Almond Extract
*1/8 cup Amaretto Liqueur
~*~Optional~*~ Caramel Topping

Procedure:

* In a stand mixer or by hand with a hand held mixer, beat the ricotta cheese with the mascarpone and sour cream.

*  Beat in the sugar and eggs one at a time.

*  Beat in the salt, flour, extract and the liqueur.

* Pour the batter carefully into the prepared pan.

* Place the pan in a larger pan and carefully pour boiling water into the larger pan until it is about 1-inch up the sides of the spring form pan. 

* Bake on the middle oven shelf for 50 minutes.

* Turn off the oven and allow the cake to sit in the oven 50 minutes longer.

* Remove the cake from the larger pan and carefully remove and discard the aluminum foil.

* Allow the cake to cool for 30 minutes.

* Cover the top of the cake loosely with wax paper and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

* When ready to serve, allow the cake to come to room temperature. Unlatch the spring form pan rim and carefully remove it. Place the cake on its base on a serving platter.

* Top with whatever you wish! I put Caramel topping in a ziploc bag and cut a small piece of the tip off and decorated the top with it and then placed the extra Amaretto Cookies I had around the cake for a beautiful presentation!

~*~Enjoy!~*~