Passport & Plate - Constant Enquirer
USA | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos
Ingredients
210 gr. Plain Sweet Cookies (Ex.Graham Crakers)
100gr. Butter
250gr. Cream cheese
1 tin (395ml) Condensed milk
1 Lemon
1 tin of pineapples (the ones with 500gr. with juice/ 340 fruit only aprox.)
2 teaspoons of flavourless gelatin
2 tablespoons of grated coconut
1/2 cup of macadamias (chopped)
1/4 hot water
How to prepare this recipeCrush the cookies/crakers and put them into a food processor with the butter (previously melted) till the crumbs get quite small and sandy in appearance.
Get the crumbs into a sprinform pan (I use a 14cm one), pressing firmly to the bottoms and making borders until half the height of the springform pan.
Later, put it into the oven in low for 10 minutes, so the crumbs end up being crispy.
Beat cream cheese at medium speed of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then start adding gradually the condensed milk.
With the lemon, first grate the rind and later squeeze the juice. Add this two to the previous mixture.
Drain the pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice for later. Chop the pineapple into small pieces and add these to the mixture with the grated coconut and the macadamias.
(Please forgive that due to a serious import problem in Argentina I could not find macadamias).
Dilute the flavourless gelatin with 1/4 cup of hot water and the 1/4 cup of pineapple juice.
Pour all the batter into the springform pan and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. When serving please be careful when removing the sides of the pan. Enjoy!
The story behind this recipeI just had finished my delicious meal at Ted's when I had choose the free dessert that came with it. You can never get hurt by a cheesecake and less if its with pineapple with macadamia. I decided to save it for later, to truly appreciate it.
Got back to my rented bike and my mission: biking through the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, looking around for Jack Johnson's house and the spots where the big waves that almost every surfer only dream about. After riding for a while I get spontaneously in one of those little passages that lead to the beach, where I stayed until some drops started to fall. I went back to the passage and I came across a big wooden sign, when I read, all the names of the Pipelines'surf master champions. Striking moment, I was in Pipeline without even knowing. A guy appears, asks me if I take pictures, pointing to my reflex camera and we start chatting for a while. A girl from Maui joins the conversation and another guy from California. The first guy invite us to go to get refuge from the rain in a deck that I had seen previously from the beach. We had spent more than and hour talking about surf and travels, when I remembered about the cheesecake, it seemed a perfect moment to share it and I offered it as a gratitude gesture.
This deck ended up being part of Jamie O'Brien's house, the surfer and this guys, also pros, where his friends sitting for the house. We saw what we could of the sunset and we where all invited to a hawaiian style barbecue, incredibly delicious. It was a great day.
Two days later, I loose my phone with the amazing luck that a guy, lovely Herbert from Brazil, found it and had the kind gesture of searching for me and giving it back. He wanted no reward, so I went before meeting him to Ted's and bought him a cheesecake. :) So this cheesecake recipe, given by my sister, even though it's not the original secret one, takes me back to hawaii, good people, following your dreams, sharing and gratitude. It always make me feel happy.
