Orange Cheesecake with Candied Kumquats

THEY'RE HERE!!! It's finally the season for kumquats. I've been waiting and waiting, like an impatient little child, counting the days till Santa's arrival. Pap and I, along with my daughter's family made a trek to Whole Foods. Upon entering the store, I became giddy with happiness when I spied the small, orange fruit glowing like Rudolph's nose from two aisles away.

My grandson watched in amazement and horror as his Nana vaulted over shopping carts, shoved little children out of the way, and bitch-slapped a produce boy for blocking the access with a towering pomegranate display that he had just finished building.

Finally, there I stood, a smile plastered on my face, and a carton of kumquats clutched in my greedy little hands. I was oblivious to the chaos of crying babies, the booming public address system ordering cleanup on aisle one, and the produce boy digging his way from beneath the mountain of pomegranates that had nearly buried him alive. The only thing I remember is Pap grabbing me by my elbow and yelling in my 'good' ear, "Let's make a break for it before store security shows up with their plastic handcuffs."

Of course that story is all fictitious. Instead I went to Kroger's, and without incident, purchased a carton of kumquats. Zzzzzzzz .... boring.

This is another one of those recipes that I discreetly tore out of a magazine while waiting in a doctor's office. It was Bonappetit 2007.

Ingredients for Candied Kumquats:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
9 ounces kumquats (about 25 medium), thinly sliced crosswise, seeds removed

Combine water and sugar in medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add kumquats; reduce heat. Simmer until kumquat slices are translucent, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat; cool kumquats in syrup. Strain kumquats, reserving syrup. Combine kumquats and 1/4 cup syrup in small bowl. Return remaining syrup to same saucepan; boil until reduced to 1 & 1/4 cups, about 8 minutes.

Ingredients for Crust:
2 cups vanilla wafer cookie crumbs (made from about 9 ounces cookies, finely ground in processor)
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
6 to 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Combine cookie crumbs and brown sugar in medium bowl; add melted butter and stir until crumbs feel moist when pressed together with fingertips. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 & 3/4-inch-high sides. Bake crust until set and edges are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool crust in pan on rack. Maintain oven temperature.

Wrap 4 layers of heavy-duty foil tightly around outside of pan with crust to make pan waterproof.

Ingredients for Filling:
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup sugar, divided
2 tablespoons finely grated orange peel
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs, room temperature

Combine orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar, and orange peel in small saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat. Simmer until mixture is reduced to 3/4 cup, about 10 minutes. Chill until cool.

Meanwhile, using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in large bowl until smooth. Mix in sour cream, flour, and salt. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in cooled orange juice mixture. Pour filling into crust; place springform pan in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of springform pan.

Bake cake until just set in center, about 1 hour and 35 minutes. Remove cake from roasting pan; remove foil. Place cake directly in refrigerator and chill overnight. Arrange kumquat slices atop cake, covering completely. Remove pan sides; place cake on platter. Cut cake into wedges; drizzle with some kumquat syrup over and serve. The kumquat syrup is perfect with the cake. But don't stop there. It's also yummy drizzled over vanilla ice cream or in a cup of tea, a glass of club soda, or even a vodka Martini.