Baking Friday - Pie # 4

Do you need an easy dessert for Easter?

Do you want a dessert that still has somewhat of a wow factor despite how easy it is?

Will there be other desserts besides the one you are bringing so people might want smaller portions but you'd still like to not bring home leftovers?

Do you like cheesecake?

Do you like pina coladas?

Do you want a dessert that involves almost no baking?

Would you like a dessert that involves your hair dryer?

If the answer to all of these questions is yes, I have a suggestion for you!

Reader - meet pina colada cheesecake tart with those classic pina colada flavors of pineapple, coconut and rum!

Pina colada cheesecake tart - meet Reader!

You could also do this in its original form, which is a full cheesecake as demonstrated by Helen Fletcher.  That version might be a better fit if this would be your only Easter dessert.

If you click on that link and scroll all the way down to read the comments, you will see a comment from Deb. C.  That's me.  I first did this back in 2011 but hadn't done one since.  This tart is simply a scaled down version of the original.

Excuse me.  I need to ask you something.  Does it count to post about a no bake cheesecake tart as a Baking Friday entry when the only baking is the crust?  Or is this cheating?

No?  It's not cheating?  It counts.  Oh good!  Thank you!  I was hoping you would agree!

The other beauty about this recipe?  It can easily be modified to fit your palette.  Don't like coconut?  No worries!  Leave it out.  It will still be tasty.  Prefer amaretto sours as your drink of choice?  Can do!  Leave out the coconut and pineapple and swap in lemon and lime zest and juice and use amaretto and triple sec.  More of a strawberry daquari person?  Cool.  Use orange zest and juice, a few cooked and smashed strawberries plus rum in the cheesecake mixture and strawberries on the top.

Have I done all of those things?  Nope, but I'm confident that they would work.  As long as you keep the liquid ingredients generally in balance for the unflavored gelatin, you give it plenty of time to firm up in the fridge, and your fruit has been partially cooked to stabilize the natural juices and sugars, this can work to give you a tasty, easy cheesecake or cheesecake tart!

Ready to see how easy?  Ok, here we go!

Begin with some crushed pineapple.  I used a 20oz can and set it over an old measuring cup that has had all of the measurements worn off from so much use to drain.  You could, of course, set yours over a new measuring cup that still has all of its measurements visible on the side.  That would be better and come closer to proving that I got about 3/4 cup of juice from this draining.  (PS - I did not use all of the pineapple or juice, so if you want some leftover crushed pineapple to use another way, buy the 20oz can.  If not, look for a smaller size can.  I have some ambrosia in mind soon, so I was happy with about half of the can being leftover!)

I gave it plenty of time to drain.  I set this out Wednesday evening when I first got home and then made supper while it drained, so it probably took about an hour and a half to get that much juice.

I used the pineapple in two places.  I started by making the glaze, but I could have done the glaze at the end, too.  I used approximately 8oz. of the pineapple with about 3 T. of the juice in the pan.  I added 1 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin to 2 T. more of the pineapple juice and let it soften for about 5 minutes.  I combined all of this along with 1/4 cup of sugar in a saucepan and let it cook until it boiled for about a minute.  I took it off the heat and let it cook to room temperature.  Helen Fletcher suggests that you run the pineapple and juice through the food processor first, which is a good idea, and I'm sure you end up with a smoother glaze, but I didn't mind the texture, so I skipped that step.  Oh, and I did one other bad thing that Helen doesn't.  I added a splash of rum at the end.  (Insert Deb hand slapping Deb's other hand here.)

Then I turned my attention to the cheesecake, beginning with the crust.  Helen's original recipe calls for using macaroon cookies.  I don't have any macaroons on hand, and I wasn't going to the store for any.  (See below for another substitution because I didn't want to go back out to the store.  I can be sooooo very lazy at times!)  But back to the crust.  No macaroons.  Oh well, bother.  So I ground up a few handfuls of coconut in the food processor for use in the crust as well as the cheesecake as well as the garnish, so I eyeballed it.  I suppose I ground up about a 3/4 cup of coconut, and used 1/2 cup in the crust.  This is really a matter of taste.  I enjoy coconut, as does G, so I was ok to err on the side of a bit more pronounced coconut flavor.  Here is what the ground up coconut looked like.  This is about 1/4 cup of the coconut set aside for use in the filling and for garnishing.

To the coconut left in the food processor I added slightly over 1/2 an inner sealed package of graham crackers.

I crushed them all up and then added 5 T. of melted butter.  (And yes, I could have simply sat down and ate this entire mixture right here!  Yum!)

But I did not.  I was a good girl and pressed these into the bottom of my tart pan with a removable bottom, sprayed with a bit of baking spray.

And because I'm such a good girl, I also made a couple of individual mini cheesecakes for G to enjoy.  How cute are these?!  Got enough ramekins for your Easter party?  These little individual ones could be enjoyed by your crew and you'd be all hip and cool and trendy since individual desserts are what all the cool kids are doing these days!

Now - for the most important step - so that I can post this recipe in a Baking Friday entry!  I BAKED the crusts in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes!

Ta-da!  We baked!  The oven was preheated.  It was hot.  It was used.  Crusts went in cold and came out hot.  It counts.  (I feel so much better now.)

While these were BAKING, I put together the filling.  I began with softening 2 teaspoons of unflavored gelatin in 2 T. of the drained pineapple juice (remember that?) and about 3 T. of rum.  Or if you're like me and you used the last of your rum in the pineapple glaze, a combination of amaretto, triple sec and Jim Beam with honey.  Now Helen uses 2 T. of dark rum, which is a bit stronger flavor (for a WHOLE cheesecake I might add vs. this scaled down version of about 1/3 of her original amounts that I was using!), so use your own judgment and modify to your taste preferences.  But despite what I thought was a generous amount for the remaining proportions of ingredients, apparently one comment that was heard in certain sectors of the building was that there wasn't enough rum.  Maybe it was a rough morning yesterday!

I heated this briefly in the microwave just to warm it.  I didn't want it to get really hot, much less to boil, so I heated on a lower setting.

Now I'm about to tell you one other substitute because I didn't want to go to the store.  Helen Fletcher calls for 3/4 cup of cream of coconut.  Scaled back to 1/3 of the ingredients meant that I needed about 1/4 cup of cream of coconut.  Surely I could make due with about 1/4 cup of heavy cream and 3 T. of coconut plus a dash of coconut flavoring.  Right?  Well, it's what I did anyway.  Is it as good as if I had used the cream of coconut?  Probably not, but it did work for this recipe.

I added them to the warmed gelatin mixture and combined well.

Then in my mixer I combined these ingredients:

1 - 8oz. pkg. of softened cream cheese
1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of drained pineapple
1 egg
Splash of vanilla
Dash of salt

I beat those all together and then added the gelatin mixture at the end.  Talk about easy!

It came together quickly enough that I felt like I needed to wait about 10 - 15 minutes for the crusts to cool before pouring this on top.

And don't forget about G's mini ones!  Again, how cute!

I chilled these in the fridge for about an hour and a half and then spread the glaze on top before setting back in the fridge overnight.

I bet you're thinking that I've forgotten about the hair dryer comment above, aren't you?  Either that or you think Deb is getting blog posts mixed up.  Well, nope, I haven't forgotten and it wasn't a mix up.  I used it the next morning for final prep!  Ready?  This is a great trick from Helen Fletcher that couldn't be easier!  Want to take that tart rim off without messing up the filling?  Give this a try!

Set the tart on top of a relatively large can.  Oh, and make sure a pickle jar is nearby.  This won't work without a pickle jar in your picture!

Turn on the hair dryer and gently blow the warm air all around the outside of the tart pan....

...until Voila!  Almost like magic, the rim falls off!

Genius, huh?!  And now I was ready to garnish with a few raspberries, and strawberries, a sprinkle of the ground up coconut and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

And it was Easter!

This our last Easter entry.  As always, I hope you have found something to inspire you for your family and friends in our visits recently.  And more importantly, I hope you have a wonderful Easter full of love and joy and hope and celebrating our Risen Lord!  See you soon!  Thanks for stopping by!