Wine Class Contribution: "Lo" Bake Peach Goat Cheesecake

Last night I went to my monthly wine class. One of my former coworkers, a construction

supervisor who is also a sommelier and food expert, he also used to work in computers. See? folks like me are more common than you think!  Wine class is a great way to socialize with colleagues, drink great wines and learn something about it too. The class is the evening right after work, so we all usually eat a little something during the class. So it's a great opportunity also to really understand food pairings especially for desserts that are good with and after wine.

  This class was on the wines of Loire Valley in France and we had a special food pairing with fresh oysters from Tomales Bay Oyster Company. So I wanted to make something that would go good with the queue of acidic wines and would be a nice light dessert after a few oysters. Something like a nice cheesecake.

I'll let you in on a secret, cheesecake is a bit of a specialty of mine. Rather convincing folk who claim not to really like cheesecake. Personally traditional New York cheesecake is a little to rich for me after dinner. There are three kinds of cheesecake: chilled(no bake), steamed(popular in Japan), and baked (traditional). For a this setting, a light chilled "lo" bake cheesecake was just the ticket.  Yellow Peaches are ripe and in season and have been tasting amazing. Goat cheese offered the right amount of tang. "Perfect" I thought and it's cheesecake so it'll be gluten free.

...oh wait graham cracker crust -_-

Ah but wait! Almond flour crust, goes well with the cheese and peaches.  And here we have it.
The "lo" bake part is the crust. Technically you could probably get away without it but baking it a bit helps keep it together for better slicing.


Lo Bake Peach Goat Cheesecake

Crust

• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp metled butter
• 1/2 tsp ginger

Filling

• 10 oz goat cheese room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ginger
• 2 medium peaches thinly slice

Preheat oven to 375

1. Combine the ginger, almond flour, brown sugar and butter in a small bowl and stir to combine. 
2. Press into a pan (springform or other wise, I used a 8" square pan)
3. Bake for 7-10 minutes until toasted brown
4. Allow crust to cool
5. In a bowl mix together goat cheese and cream cheese. 
6. Gradually add sugar and ginger, mixing until well combined
7. Spread evenly into a cooled crust
8. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours
9. Top with sliced peaches before serving

Tips

• I made this a 1 bowl recipe (well I washed the bowl once). Used a large glass mixing bowl. Made crust. Wash. Then softened cheese in microwave on low heat for about 90 seconds. Added sugar and ginger and poured into the cool crust
• If you're going to be travelling with this, Refrigerate for 2 hours than you can keep in the freezer 30 minutes prior to departure