One of the great joys of summer is truly fresh corn, right from the field to the market. Those fresh kernels, so soon after being picked, are sweet and juicy and bursting. I gorge myself in July and August, from corn puddings to salads, but of course right of the cob smothered in butter and salt. But I think the sweet side is too often overlooked in favor of those delicious savory classics. Corn is amazing in desserts when it is fresh – those natural sugars allowed to shine. I have shared his lovely sweet corn pound cake, which puts the corn front and center in a twist on a traditional recipe. And here, I go all in again with a cool and creamy cheesecake redolent of from-the-field corn nestled on a popcorn crust to keep the theme going (taken from my caramel popcorn tart). This cheesecake absolutely screams summer and is perfect after a meal of fresh from the farmers market summer produce.
I really, really recommend using corn bought as straight from the farm as soon after picking, which is why I always make this with farmers market corn from a trusted farmer. The natural sugars in corn convert to starch over time, so you lose that delightful sweet the longer it has been off the stalk. Use plain, unsalted, unbuttered popcorn to start. It is best to use airpopped as it has nothing clinging to it. You can even put kernels into a paper lunch sack, fold the top down a few times and place on its side with the fold facing down in the microwave. Set for 5 minutes, but listen to and remove when the popping is almost stopped. Microwave popcorn or packaged popped corn have a chemical taste, and popping with oil adds, well, oil. Make a little extra and toss it lightly with some melted butter and salt to sprinkle over the cheesecake.
Ingredients
- For the Crust
9 cups plain popped popcorn
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/3 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the Filling
3 – 4 ears of corn (to produce 3 cups of kernels)
1 ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
½ vanilla bean
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
- For the Crust
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray, then wrap the outside tightly with 2 layers of foil. Find a baking pan that the springform will comfortably fit in and allow water to come up the sides of the pan. I use the roasting tray that came with my oven.
- Put 4 cups of popped popcorn in the bowl of a food processor and process until ground. Add the rest of the popcorn 1 cup at a time until it is all ground to fine crumbs (like you would do with graham crackers for a similar crust). Add the sugar and salt and process to combine, then pour in the melted butter and process until you have a wet rubble. Transfer the crumbs to the prepared springform and press into an even layer that covers the bottom without gaps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Bake the tart shell for 10 minutes, until it is lightly browned. Cool completely.
- For the Filling
- Scrape the kernels from the corn cobs and place in a medium saucepan, break one scraped cob in half and add it to the pot. Slit the vanilla bean open, scrap out the seeds and add the seeds and bean to the pot. Pour in the heavy cream and bring to a low boil over medium high heat, then reduce the temperature to low and simmer for 10 mintes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely, infusing the cream with the corn and vanilla.
- Remove the corn cob and vanilla bean from the cream, then pour the cream and corn into a blender and blend until smooth. Rinse and dry the pot, then pour the cream through a wire mesh strainer, scraping out as much cream as you can. You should end up with 1 ½ cups corn infused cream (add a little plain heavy cream if you needed to make that amount.)
- Heat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Wash and dry the food processor bowl, then add the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and salt and blend until smooth. Scrape down the side s of the bowl then add the corn cream and blend until completely smooth. Pour the filling over the crust in the spring form and place it in the larger roasting tin. Bring a kettle of water to the boil. Put the roasting tin in the oven, then pour the boiling water slowly into the tin (so it doesn’t splash the cheesecake) just until it reaches half way up the sides of the springform. Bake for 45 minutes, until the center is firm with just a slight jiggle. Turn the oven off, prop the door ajar with a wooden spoon handle or oven mitt and leave the cake to cool in the oven for an hour. Remove from the water bath and cool completely on the counter. Run a thing knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it, then loosely cover the top and refrigerate until chilled – overnight is fine. Remove the springform ring and transfer the cake to a platter.
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