Mango Cheesecake

Mangoes are very popular in Hawaii.  Everywhere  you go you’ll probably see a mango tree somewhere.  I remember stealing mangoes from the neighborhood we lived in in Pearl City with our friends.  We would ride around our neighborhood with our bikes to see which trees had the most ripe mangoes.  [Ok, “steal” is a strong word; more like “borrow but didn’t return.”] 

I thought about adding a recipe to the Chinese or the Hawaiian Food Categories this week, but I decided to add another cheesecake recipe mainly because my husband requested it.  This is a light cheesecake with a sweet mango macadamia nut topping.  The egg whites made the cheesecake less richer for a creamy but light dessert.

Mango Cheesecake

Crust:

½ block margarine or butter (softened)

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix margarine or butter with graham cracker crumbs until well mixed.
3. Spray a springform pan with butter spray (bottom and sides).
4. Press crumb mixture into the bottom and sides of the pan. 
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes.  Cool. 
6. Keep oven on and add a large pan of water in the lower rack in the oven. 

 Cheesecake:

2 blocks of cream cheese (softened)

1 cup sugar

1 ¼ cup mango puree

1 ¼ cup egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1.  Blend the sugar and cream cheese well.  Add the mango puree; blend well.  Mix egg whites.  Add vanilla extract and mix well.
2. Pour mixture into the cooled graham crust.
3. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cheesecake.  Cool.  Run a knife around the edges of the springform pan before removing the side of the pan.  Remove side.  Continue to cool.  Pour topping when cheesecake is a little cooled.

 Topping:

1 ¼ cup mango puree

2 TBSP margarine or butter

2 TBSP brown sugar

2 TBSP sugar

½ cup chopped macadamia nuts

1. Heat all ingredients (except the nuts) in a small saucepan until simmering.  Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously.
2. Remove from heat.  Cool. 
3. Pour topping over the entire cheesecake.  Sprinkle macadamia nuts on the top edges of the cheesecake.  Refrigerate  for 4 hours.

~ by hawaiianized on April 25, 2010.