Mick Ross

When I moved to OKC I was fortunate to find several groups of friends very quickly. One group I spend time with loves to play volleyball but its way too cold now in January for bump, set, spike. Our favorite thing to do during the off season is eat (actually I think that’s our favorite all the time). Sometimes its a new restaurant, sometimes its an old favorite, but sometimes its a themed potluck dinner.

This month’s theme was Tex-Mex. Gwyn brought enchiladas. Kari brought sopapilla cheesecake. Tam brought barracho beans. We had enough food to feed an army. I’m still on the dessert kick and decided to bring ‘Nacho Regular’ Cheesecake.

‘Nacho Regular’ Cheesecake looks like a taco salad, but it’s a delicious cheesecake with pie crust chips. Here’s the recipe:

Time/Servings:

• Prep: 45 minutes
• Cook: 45 minutes
• Servings: 8

Ingredients:

Cheesecake

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 16 oz of cream cheese
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• Yellow and red food coloring
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Nacho Chips

• 1 roll pie dough
• All purpose flour
• 1 tbs milk
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs cinnamon

Garnishes

• Swedish fish
• 1 cup strawberry preserves
• Green licorice twists
• Black licorice dots
• Chocolate covered raisins
• 3 tbs sour cream
• Yellow and red food coloring

Directions:

1. Cheesecake: Preheat oven to 300°. Spray a 9 in clear pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. Beat the cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add 2/3 cup sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Continue to mix until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time beating each until smooth. Tint the mix with the yellow and red food coloring and stir until it’s even. Bake for 30 minutes.
2. Stir together the sour cream and 1/4 cup of sugar in a small bowl. Gently spread the mixture over the hot cheesecake. Bake the cheesecake for 5 more minutes then allow to cool for about two hours.
3. Nachos: Roll out the pie crust on a floured surface. Glaze the pie crust with the milk and sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on it. Use a knife or a triangle cookie cutter to cut out the chip shapes. Bake the chips at 400° for 8-10 minutes on cookie sheets with parchment.
4. Garnishes: For the tomatoes cut up the sweedish fish and coat them in the strawberry jam. For the chilis cut the green licorice into 45° angled slices. For the olives cut holes in the licorice dots. For the melted cheese add yellow and red food coloring to the sour cream. Sprinkle in the chocolate covered raisins for the meat.