Pineapple Coconut Cheesecake

Sharon123's Note:

This cheesecake is sure to please! It has a luscious blend of pineapple, coconut and ginger! Adapted from Source magazine put out by Sam's Club. Note: this recipe has been updated and tweeked a little more!

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 8

Crust

• cooking spray
• 1 ¼ cups gingersnap crumbs , ground in the food processor (about 25 cookies)
• 3 ½ tablespoons butter , melted
• ¼ cup brown sugar

Filling

• ¾-1 cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups cottage cheese (no-fat or low-fat)
• 1 ½ teaspoons coconut extract
• ¾ cup neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat)
• 2 tablespoons white flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs (If you want a fluffier cheesecake separate 2 of the eggs, whipping egg whites till soft peaks form a)
• 1⁄8; teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Topping Sauce

• 2 (15 ounce) cans crushed pineapple
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 pinches ground ginger
• ½ cup shredded sweetened coconut , toasted to garnish (or more if desired)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*F.
2. CRUST: Spray a 9"springform pan with the cooking spray (or you may use 2 8" pie pans). Mix the gingersnap crumbs, butter, and brown sugar; toss with a fork until moist. Press the mix into the bottom and up against the sides of the pan. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool.
3. FILLING: Mix filling ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth. Pour into the prepared crust. Place the cheese mixture into either the springform pan or into the pie pans.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center barely moves when pan is touched. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center barely moves when pan is touched. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.
6. PINEAPPLE SAUCE: Combine pineapple, brown sugar and ginger in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook about 15-20 minutes, stirring occaionally. Cool completely.
7. Spread pineapple sauce over pie and top with toasted coconut. Enjoy!

Reviews

[Nasseh]

This was my first time making a cheesecake. The directions were simple & easy to follow. But my cheesecake took 45 minutes to cook. I used gingersnaps for the crust as it called for but I think the flavor was a little overpowering for this cheesecake. Next time I may do half gingersnaps & half graham crackers. I do not like cottage cheese so at the suggestion of my friend who is a cheesecake expert I used sour cream instead. Since the other review said they really couldn't taste the coconut in the cake I add 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to the filling. Overall, this was a tasty cheesecake. Thanks

[2Bleu]

05/03/08 - We used regular cream cheese as they were out of neufchatel at the grocery store. We also used graham crackers in lieu of gingersnap crumbs. We chose the whipping of the 2 egg whites but next time we will use the whole egg version. The pineapple topping is absolutely wonderful! It has an outstanding flavor and we can see using it for a pineapple ice cream sundae easliy and have since used it for Natilla De Pina (Pineapple Custard). The cheese cake was okay, but a bit too fluffy. We could not taste the coconut (extract) and at the time of this review and the toasted coconut was not included in the original recipe. Four people gave a combined average rating of 3.5 stars. -------- 05/07/08 Made again with revisions using a 5" mini springform pan reducing the ingredients to 2 servings. I used graham crackers for the crust, but added about 1/8 tsp of ground ginger to get as close to the list ingredients as possible and it worked out wonderfully. I also had to use regular cream cheese (I think neufchatel is on strike around here). I lightly toasted (deseccated) the coconut for color and presentation. The added coconut topping does add a bit of sweetness, but goes extremely well with the pineapple. We suggest using a thin layer of pineapple topping to compensate. Not whipping the egg whites makes this cheesecake nicely dense and flavorful. The presentation is as wonderful as the taste. Thank you Sharon, for tweeking this recipe and giving it a second go round. :)