Chestnut Cheesecake

ingredients

• crust:
• 1/2 cup (2 cups) Graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 stick butter
  2/3 stick whipped butter
  1/2 stick hydrogenated fat
  1/2 stick margarine
  1/3 stick olive oil
• 1 heaping tablespoon sweetened chestnut puree
• the cheesecake:
• 2 cups cream cheese
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons rum
• 1 cup sweetened chestnut puree
• the Syrup:
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup rum
• 1 tablespoon sweetened chestnut puree
• 1/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
  4 teaspoons whipped butter
  1 tablespoon hydrogenated fat
  1 tablespoon margarine
  2 1/4 teaspoons olive oil

directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and put the kettle on to boil.

For the base, process the crackers, butter and chestnut puree until it is like fine crumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan and place in the fridge while you make the filling.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and add the sugar. Add the eggs and egg yolks, beating them in 1 by 1 until they are incorporated into the cream cheese and sugar. Add the sour cream, lime juice, vanilla extract and rum, and beat again until smooth and creamy. Finally, fold in the sweetened chestnut puree. Don't worry about making a fully amalgamated mixture: smooth cream cheese with grainy streaks of chestnut is just fine.

Line the outside of the springform pan containing the crumb base with a good wrapping of plastic wrap, so that the whole of the bottom and sides are enveloped in plastic. Do the same with aluminum foil, covering the layer of plastic wrap to make a very watertight casing. Stand the springform, thus covered, in a roasting pan and pour in the chestnut filling. Once that's done, pour water from a recently boiled kettle into the roasting pan to come just over an inch up the side of the pan (the plastic wrap will make it bob up and down a bit) and place in the oven to cook for an hour.

When the cheesecake's ready it should be just set on top with a hint of wobble underneath - it will continue to cook as it cools. Take the cheesecake out of the roasting pan, take off the foil and plastic wrap and let the cheesecake cool on a rack. Refrigerate overnight before unmolding and leaving it to get back to room temperature. If you need to unmold it long before you want to eat it, then just sit it on its serving plate in the fridge until about 20-30 minutes before you want to eat it.

Put all ingrediants for the syrup into a saucepan and stir to dissolve. Let the syrup boil for 10 minutes. Cool until it is just warm. Criss-cross syrup over the top of the cheesecake.

The syrup can be made in advance but do not pour it over the cheesecake until it is ready to be served.