Peanut Butter Cheesecake
As seen on TV
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Who made this dish?
Peanut Butter and Goat's Cheesecake with Salted Pretzel Base, Cherry Bourbon Gel and Caramelized Puff Pastry Ice Cream.
Mark: "The peanut butter and jelly sandwich - one of the first things a lot of kids learn to make. I want to take those flavors and elevate it into a really amazing dessert." He made a whipped peanut butter and goat's cheese cheesecake on a salted pretzel biscuit base, topped with poached cherries and a cherry bourbon gel, peanut brittle, and burnt honey meringues. Mark: "Basically making Italian meringue, but instead of using a normal sugar syrup, I'm using burnt honey and then piping that into beautiful little matchstick strips." He also prepared a caramelized puff pastry ice cream. Mark: "I've caramelized puff pastry and infused it into an anglaise base, and then going to turn that into ice cream." {Judge}: "Peanut butter, big, strong, cloying flavor - he's going to need enough of that cherry gel to really cut through it all. This is a great idea, but this food can be rustic on the eye. The ice cream, you don't want to overchar and make it grainy. I want to taste the caramelization of the pastry."
{Judge}: "I don't like your presentation. I think it's messy in your piping. The peanut butter cheesecake, it doesn't even taste of cheesecake to me. I can't get that cheesy sourness with the goat cheese that's in there. But I love your burnt honey meringue - I think that's fabulous. I love the pretzel base as well. There are things in here that I do like, and there's bits that I'm looking for that aren't there. It's not your best plate." {Judge}: "There is so much richness and so much sweetness going on in your cheesecake. I love that toasted, sort of caramelized puff pastry ice cream - oh, that's really clever. I've never heard of that before. The peanut butter cheesecake, you do need more of the cheese running through it. It is a little bit too sweet. I like the cherry with the alcohol running through it, but I want more of that." {Judge}: "Mark's presentation was a little bit clumsy. I didn't think the cheesecake had the cheesiness flavor that I was expecting, but the pretzel crumb at the bottom was good. Loved the ice cream. I really enjoyed the cherries. I wanted more of it."
