Savory Kalamata Cheesecake Squares

Submitted by Vino Girl

"From Christmas With Southern Living 2005."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 2mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 36

ingredients

• 1 1⁄4 cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1⁄2 cup pecans, very finely chopped
• 1⁄3 cup butter or 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1⁄2 cup kalamata olive, pitted and chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• additional fresh rosemary (to garnish) (optional)
• additional kalamata olive (to garnish) (optional)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine first 3 ingredients; stir well.
3. Press into a greased, foil lined 9 inch square pan.
4. Bake for 12 minutes; allow to cool.
5. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese, sour cream, and next 3 ingredients at medium speed until smooth.
6. Add egg and egg yolk; beat until blended.
7. Stir in olives and rosemary.
8. Pour into crust and bake for 20 minutes, or just until firm.
9. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
10. Cover and chill for at least one hour before removing from pan and cutting.

Reviews

[CindiNMike]

We followed the instructions to the T, and something didn't work, as the entire thing fell apart. I was aware it wasn't quite right, and probably baked it for at least twice the time it was supposed to bake to where the edges were starting to brown, but the middle pieces still wouldn't hold shape. For starters, I think for this type of crust, there was not enough butter, and the crust is too thick. I think also 12 minutes may not have been enough, but rather the crust should have baked until it started to brown. Basically the crust still came out like breadcrumbs that fell apart though. The Kalamata olive part was quite nicely seasoned, but stayed pretty loose in the middle. As I said before, I baked it about 40 minutes, until the edgest started to brown, but the middle was still too gloppy to hold shape. My instinct is that the recipe might work better if you made the same amount in a 9x13 pan, and made the changes I suggested to the crust. Then maybe it would all firm up. I may play with it some and post a change later as the flavor was delicious, which is the only reason I gave it any stars at all!