Man, I haven’t posted anything about cooking or food for awhile.  It’s not that you necessarily enjoy it, but if I do it means I’M having a good time.  Anyway—neither Ernie or I are big dessert people and my mother is definitely not a big dessert person.  She’s been diabetic since 1939 (it always makes me giggle when we see a doctor and they ask when she was diagnosed and she cheerily responds "1939".  They ALWAYS do a doubletake….).  So, at Easter I originally just planned to have strawberries for dessert but then I thought I should do something more festive.  So I perused my most recent cookbook purchase (I MUST quit the cookbook club) and found this incredible dessert. After Easter dinner everyone was too full and tired for dessert so I
sent some home with leftovers for my folks and my MOTHER called me a
day later to rave about Ernie’s dessert (oh, I forgot to mention, of
course Ernie is the one that made it….).  I thought it was absolutely
amazing…and EASY…you don’t even have to bake it.  It’s not too
sweet and it’s voluptuous but not too rich….it’s rare that I rave
about a dessert but this one will be made again in this house…. It is a recipe from Heather Ho, who was a young and
obviously talented pastry chef who was working at Windows on the World
the morning of 9/11….sigh….  The picture is from www.porkcracklins.net
as every time I ate another piece of it I would think, "oh, I really
need to take a pretty picture of this…not on the plastic kid’s plate
from Ikea…so I can post it on my blog….but I never did.

Ginger Mascarpone Icebox Cake

12 ounces gingersnap crumbs (about 2 1/4 cups from about 40 Nabisco gingersnaps)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup minced  crystallized ginger
1 pound mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup heavy cream

serves 12

Spray
a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray or grease it lightly. Dust
with a little sugar and knock out any excess. Rub the gingersnap crumbs
and butter together with your fingertips to combine. Sprinkle half over
the bottom of the pan and pat down evenly; reserve the rest.
       

With
an electric mixer, whip together the cream cheese, yogurt, sugar,
vanilla, and candied ginger until smooth. Add the mascarpone and cream
and whip until the mixture is thorough combined and just holds peaks.
Carefully spoon half of the mascarpone cream over the crust, spreading
it evenly to the edges of the pan.

Sprinkle
half of the remaining crumbs over the mascarpone cream in the pan. Top
with remaining mascarpone cream and finish with the remaining crumbs.
Gently tap the pan on the counter to eliminate any air bubbles. Cover
with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

I highly recommend it—-let me know if you try it!!!