Mascarpone Cheesecake with Sour Cream and Mango Topping

Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. Although I’ve never met a cheesecake I didn’t like, I do prefer them less sweet and more tangy. I could eat sour cream straight out of the container, ya feel me?

The great news about cheesecake crust is you can use almost any cracker or cookie that you have on hand. I had toffee covered mini pretzels that I present on QVC that made such a delicious sweet and salty crust. Using plain salted pretzels will absolutely giving you a delicious crust, as well.

What you need:

Crust:
Pretzels, about 8 ounces, finely ground in food processor to equal 2 heaping cups
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, completely softened overnight

Filling:
20 ounces regular whole fat cream cheese, completely softened
3/4 cup sugar
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, completely softened
3 eggs
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Topping:
3/4 cup full fat sour cream
1/4 cup mango kefir
1/2 cup diced mango (optional)

For topping:
I left the sour cream on the counter for about an hour to allow it to soften slightly to make it easier to mix with the kefir. Mix together the sour cream and kefir in a bowl and set aside on counter.

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350. Using a spoon, mix together the ground pretzels with the softened butter until fully incorporated. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan, then pat the pretzel mixture into the pan, going about halfway up the sides of the pan. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until golden. It will smell nice and toasted. Keep the oven on and set crust aside to cool.

For filling:
Using a mixture, beat the cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar in a large bowl until fully mixed, about three minutes. Add the eggs and mix. Add the lemon juice and salt and mix on low speed for 30 more seconds. Pour mixture into cooled crust (it doesn’t have to be totally cooled, but definitely not hot). Place in oven and bake about 30-35 minutes. The cheesecake will slightly giggle when you remove it. Cool on rack before removing from springform pan. Once cooled, pour the sour cream topping mixture on top of cake and gently smooth it to cover the top with the back of a spoon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

Once the topping is spread out it will look like this

Diced fruit adds a nice balance to the creamy, rich texture