Shopping in downtown Camas you are likely to stop in at Lizzabeth A’s Home Decor on Birch. There is a lovely bench settled near the front door under a sweet little awning. Inside the atmosphere is cozy and inviting and the shop is filled with clever items to add warm interest to your home and table.
Near the counter you will find a display of food products including an appealing selection of Pepper Jelly made by Aloha From Oregon. There are pretty jars of brilliant green Jalapeno Pepper Jelly, bright Plum – Ginger Thai Pepper Jelly, even a vivd red Raspberry Pepper Jelly. Every jewel toned flavor looks beautiful and sounds intriguing.
There are also recipes. My husband brought one for a Pepper Jelly Cheesecake home during the holiday season. It calls for an unusual combination of cheddar, cream cheese and pepper jelly baked into a cake and topped with more richly colored pepper jelly. Having received a jar of Pepper Jelly for Christmas I had to give it try.
This recipe is simple to prepare. Served with crackers or baguette slices it makes a great appetizer. You can choose whether to make it spicy hot with Habanero Jelly, exotic with Plum Ginger Thai Jelly or sweet with the Raspberry, Pomegranate or Mango Jelly. Or you can choose the flavor of Jelly according to the seasonal color you would like to highlight. In brilliant tones of green, orange, red or yellow it makes a great accent to almost any festive table setting.
Pepper Jelly Cheesecake
from Lizzabeth A, in downtown Camas
1 8-oz. package cream cheese
5 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1 8-oz. jar pepper jelly, divided
Combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, egg and half of the pepper jelly in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a 6-inch springform pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cool enough to handle place the cheesecake, in the pan, in the refrigerator for several hours, until completely cool.
Carefully remove the cheesecake from the pan and transfer it to a serving plate. Pour the remaining pepper jelly over the cheesecake and garnish as desired.
Serve with crackers or slices of crusty bread.
Enjoy!
That certainly is colourful, and I be it tastes amazing too!
Oh how I love pepper jelly and now I want to go to Camas too…beautiful, just beautiful.
this is a personal favorite for me, lisa. pepper jelly does battle with cinnamon apple jelly on a regular basis for my top spot. i like to make this even easier and just spread cream cheese on a cracker and top it with pepper jelly. good stuff. 🙂
What a pretty cheesecake Lisa! I think it'd be a hit with such unique flavors.
You've taken pepper jelly over cream cheese to a whole new level, Lisa. I love this kind of appetizer with crackers.