There's No Cake In Cheesecake

This past week we celebrated our friend Rebecca's birthday. She doesn't like cake. I have known her for four years now, and it still amazes me. How do you not like cake? We are going to keep asking!

So, instead of cake, I made her a cheesecake. It happened to work out well since cheesecake was one of the monthly recipes for the Easy Bake cOven for April. I made a lemon base cheesecake, and instead of topping it with the lemon glaze, I used fresh strawberries and kiwi.

It's been a long time since I made cheesecake! I also had never made a cheesecake without the water-bath technique. I decided to go ahead and try it without since the recipe said to... and the top cracked. Thankfully, I could cover it up with pretty fruit. No one seemed to care, and the cheesecake turned out well. I'd make this again, and it would be fun to try with the lemon glaze. I hope you enjoyed your birthday un-cake Rebecca!

Photo by M

Meyer Lemon Sorbet

I didn't know the difference between Sorbet and Sherbet when I made this ice cream, frankly I didn't care too much because the recipe sounded too good to pass up. Upon serving it to friends on Valentines Day, they asked, "What makes it a sorbet and not a sherbet?" We threw around our answers and then I googled it. (do you think google knew it would become a verb when they started? apparently they are concerned it will dilute the branding...) Answer. The difference is eggs. Sorbet has no eggs, Sherbet does. I'm sure you fanatical ice cream eaters already knew this, but just in case you were thinking the same thing....

This sorbet is the embodiment of summer. It is light and refreshing, and I managed not to explode after eating a scoop. Sometimes heavy ice creams make me feel this way = regret. The lemons I used came from the same batch I used to make Lemon Cake recently. It took a lot of lemons to make 1 C of lemon juice - and this is no time to substitute with "fresh squeezed bottled juice". Since Meyer Lemons have an orange-y flavor, you can substitute about a third of regular lemon juice with orange juice to imitate the flavor if you can't find them. I'd suggest substituting half of the zest as well. It won't be exactly the same, but you probably won't make fish faces after eating the sorbet if you made it with regular lemon juice. They are hard to find because they are not grown commercially. They are delicate. They require special attention when shipping. Most of the Meyers sold in California come from local growers, or small farms.

The taste as I said before is so wonderfully light, you can't beat it. It was a great addition to our Valentines dinner with friends, and a lovely pairing to our warm weather this past weekend. Like little suns in my wooden bowl. I hope to make some more interesting desserts for you before they disappear.

I can't resist telling you another story... these lemons kind of remind me of my fish in college, Limone (use your Italian here: Lee-mohn-eh). He was a beautiful Yellow Tang fish, and one day he got sick. Rather than try and transport him to CA with me (a three day journey not likely to have a positive ending) I took him back to the fish store and they said they would do their best to rehabilitate him. Better ending. Maybe he is planning his escape from a dental office as we speak.

Meyer Lemon Sorbet

From the Earth to the Table, John Ash

1 1/4 C sugar

2 T lemon zest - finely grated

1 C lemon juice

4 C half and half

Whisk all of these together in a medium bowl, add to your ice cream maker and freeze for about 25 minutes - or according to your maker's instructions. Freeze for at least 5 hours or overnight. Don't worry if it looks curdled in the ice cream maker, it will smooth out in the freezer. If you wanted this to be a little more soft and creamy than icy, you could substitute one cup of heavy cream for the half and half.

When Life Gives You Lemons... Make Lemon Cake

I like fresh squeezed lemonade, but I like cake more than lemonade... and Meyer lemons are much more exciting to bake with. I made a cake for another office birthday using these great lemons. There are so many birthdays in the first 11 days of February - it's a little strange. I know of 6, and made a cake for 3 of them (4 if you count the double office party). Sad I couldn't make a cake for my sister on her birthday (shared with my boss who I did make this cake for). Next year I will plan it better and mail one! I only have one cake in my repertoire that I know mails well, which is the cookie cake tower. It's also good if you don't have to mail it.

My bosses are interesting people. They ballroom dance competitively, run an architecture firm, and enjoy watching Glee - which makes me laugh. I had the option of making chocolate or lemon cake, and I had that very day been offered a bag of lemons courtesy of a friend. I'm not exactly sure where they came from - maybe his uncle, or his uncle's neighbor... I'm just glad I was offered! Thanks R! Since I had lemons on the way, it made the choice much easier. Making decisions is very hard sometimes. (Especially when feeding a diverse group of people, and attempting to make a nice cake for your boss.) I did some research and ended up making a lemon poppyseed bundt cake from a new cookbook.

Bundt cakes travel well (even on the bus), and feed a crowd without all the added layers. You can fancy them up with fresh fruit or fresh cream, and they look so pretty dusted with powdered sugar. Picture me in the office kitchen/library using a tea infuser to dust the powdered sugar on the cake! silly, but it worked well. The lemon poppy cake I made had a lighter texture than most bundt cakes and was drenched in lemony syrup after it finished baking. The recipe called for more poppy seeds than I would normally use, but they offered a nice crunch. Our office joked afterward that we should all avoid drug tests (though we have no such requirement in our office). I'm pretty sure that Myth Busters proved that if you eat enough poppy seeds you will test positive on drug tests. Innocent cake lovers be ware.

I'm looking forward to our next office birthday - not until next month though. Hopefully I'll have something exciting to share with you all here.

Easy Bake cOven - Lemon Bars by Tartine

I have a recipe for lemon bars that I really like. I like to think it was I who brought them back into fashion here in san francisco, but more realistically it was Tartine Bakery. They definitely serve more people in one day than I have possibly my whole "baking career". Every now and then I thumb through their cookbook when I'm at Therapy (one of the best stores ever) and never quite bring myself to buy a copy. Maybe it's because I know they are making a killing at their bakery (and newer restaurant) and feel no need to add to their success. But that might be a little harsh.... More likely, a flash of the overstuffed shelf of cookbooks I own enters my mind and I can't seem to find a place for it. I'm glad Angela chose this recipe for January. Even though I tend to think of lemon bars as a summery dessert - I brought them to life in our kitchen on this sunny Sunday (if only we hadn't eaten giant souffles for dinner we may have been able to enjoy them).

I was quite intrigued by this recipe. The shortcrust contains pine nuts - which sounded delicious and weird all at the same time. It also said you could use orange zest of a particular variety if available which was also interesting. Lemon bars with pine nuts and orange zest. I did not go searching for this specific orange but did opt to try the pine nuts. I wanted to do the crust a little different though and rather than leaving the nuts whole, I processed them until they resembled fine crumbs and mixed them in to the dough. I also wanted to make them into little tarts so I could experiment with different toppings. My lemon bars were more like mini lemon pies serving 4-6 people. Can't forget to thank the landlord for having my oven fixed on Friday! I actually thought I might miss the January recipe because of it.

Do I like these more than my own recipe? I can tell you they are different enough to make an easy choose. I like my very simple crunchy crust with just enough lemon to satisfy a craving - but these are a good change. Thick crust and a almost double the amount of filling I would normally use - they were nice with the hint of nuts. The filling was also a little bit creamier than the normal. Very tart with a nice nutty depth of flavor. I might try serving one with chopped toasted pine nuts.

If you would like to try out the recipe from Tartine, find the original post here. And don't forget to check out the rest of the lemon bars at the cOven blog.

Baby Cake

There is going to be a new baby amongst our group of friends soon. I feel like a lot of my friends I grew up with are already experiencing this or have experienced it or have their own baby. For M and I things are a little different. People in the city tend to wait longer to have children than our midwestern roots, so we haven't experienced the baby craze just yet. I'm pretty sure it is just beginning and it is quite fun. I really love babies. They are so cute and sweet and once they start to cry you can give them back (hehe at least for now).

Baby is coming in less than a month so of course we had to celebrate. Our friend organized a very non-traditional couples shower where we only played one baby game that had nothing to do with melted candy bars in diapers. More like a regular party with lots of food and drinks, I think our couple had a good time. They also received some cutesy baby gifts and a bunch of babysitting offers.

I was asked to make a cake. Go figure... The funny thing is that the dad-to-be is allergic to pretty much everything so I had to default to a known favorite that I knew wouldn't kill him. Gingerbread Cake. I made it for his last birthday and they both really liked it. Safe. I also had intention of making it really cute since there wasn't going to be much of that at the shower. I have been looking for a reason to try out fondant too. I made marshmallow fondant in a very small quantity for my nephew's birthday cupcakes (coming soon) but never covered an entire cake with it. I got some tips from a friendly salesman at the baking supply store and it turned out great.

Fondant is pretty simple. I would like to try and make my own sometime but for now I stuck with Wilton. Once I kneaded it enough it was easy to roll. I didn't really figure out how to cover the corners of a square cake so I decided to drape it around like a little blanket. It looked really cute and no one would have known otherwise. I also wanted to make block letters and they turned out super cute too. Thanks to my lovely assistant and friend Emily (who makes amazing cookies by the way) for ideas and help finishing the cake. "baby" blocks and polka dots. This was great practice to cakes to come (at least I hope).

Gingerbread Cake

(1 9 inch cake) Printer Friendly

1 stick butter

1/2 C brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 C molasses

2 eggs

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp allspice

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 C buttermilk

Lemon Frosting

4 T butter

zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp lemon extract

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 C sifted powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350˚. butter and flour a 9" pan. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the molasses and eggs one at a time. Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla to the buttermilk. Alternate 1/3 flour and 1/2 buttermilk until completely blended. Smooth the top and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely in the pan, run a knife around the edge and un-mold onto a wire rack. Optional - Cut cake in half and spread with Lemon curd, or raspberry preserves. It is best when left overnight to absorb the filling. Frost and serve.

An Old-Timey Dessert

I love Apple Crisp. It is so simple to make and leaves you very satisfied. It is one of the desserts my mom used to make a lot growing up. Anytime we had an abundance of Johnathan apples (still my favorite) she'd make a crisp. She also didn't use a recipe which is quite interesting and something I haven't attempted... everything based on consistency.

I decided an apple crisp would be a wonderful accompaniment to a hearty meal of potato soup and salad. The combination of warm baked apples topped with vanilla ice cream is divine. If you're looking for a cheap quick dessert to feed a group I recommend something like this. Next time I make one I'll probably do something based on the original recipe but with the addition of some interesting fruits (like blueberries or plumped dates).

Apple Crisp

Altered from From the Earth to the Table

6-8 C baking apples peeled cored and sliced

cinnamon

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 1/2 C oats

3/4 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

3/4 C butter

Preheat the oven to 375˚. Butter a 9x12 baking pan (glass or enamel) and fill with apples. Sprinkle some cinnamon to taste and toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into slices and toss with the sugar mix. Mix in the zest. Quickly cut in the butter leaving large chunks with the consistency of large peas. Evenly spread the mix over the apples. Bake for 35 minutes or until the crust is browned and the apples are bubbly. Cool 10 minutes and serve with a dollop of ice cream.

Wedding Cake Part 3: Delivery

Finished! Thankfully. Making a wedding cake is quite a bit of work! I was pretty exhausted Saturday night once we got home from the wedding. The cake turned out well, though not without a few little mishaps in transit....

I must not have been working fast enough because I was about 30 minutes behind on my frosting. The more I frosted, the more I began to despise Shannon's great Aunt Lou. This frosting may be suitable for a small birthday cake, but it just doesn't hold up well, or cover well, or smooth well enough for a wedding cake. I manipulated some of the frosting with powdered sugar to attempt to give more structure for the final coat, but it wasn't completely worth it. It may have helped a little, but time was running out. I got the cake to a certain point and Michael suggested I do finishing touches at the site. We got in the car and not half a block down the cake started to slide on its base! I guess I should have secured it to the board better! oops. Needless to say I ended up with a death grip on the bottom tier while Michael drove as gingerly as possible. Thankfully we didn't encounter much traffic or we might have been really late. We got there in enough time to make my ugly duckling cake into a true swan. Disaster averted (if you don't count sticky fingers).

I hurriedly patched the frosting and evened out corners whilst my dearest assistant kept my nerves down and helped me finish the decorations. The florist as planned had left some curly willow and orchids for me to finish the cake and decorate the table. I had brown, green and white cymbidium and dendrobium orchids and might I say that decorations do wonders for a boring old cake. My chocolate branches turned out well and tied into the table decorations too. I don't think I stopped shaking until I stepped away and took the supplies back to the car. Yes, I was really nervous, and I wasn't normal again until I had a bite of cake later that night.

Shannon (bride) and Ali (groom) both loved it and that made me really happy. She said it was so pretty she wanted to cry - which we both laughed at but was really sweet to say. Lots of people told me how beautiful it was and that was a real treat. It makes me happy that my first attempt was not a failure. I thought it was going to be in the car the whole way there... but constant prayers for 3 days of work not to be ruined in one short stop worked wonders. I'm pretty sure I would do another cake - but definitely with more say in the frosting choice! I might also consider a better method of travel and stick the cake to the board with super glue (or some hard-drying frosting like Royal Icing).

I found this experience very challenging and fulfilling. I spent a lot of time researching the "how to's" of cake construction (while missing the piece on attaching it to the board). I enjoyed baking the largest cake of my life - the 14" square cake - which holds about 13.5 cups of batter. I was also pleased with the proportions of the layers, the largest being chocolate and the top tiers lemon poppy seed. The baking part of this challenge was by far the easiest even though it took the most time. Luckily I had Friday off as well to finish everything else. There is definitely a method to this cake business and I may have learned it the hard way.

There are likely to more photos in the near future, but for your viewing pleasure now... here are some amazing pics taken by my lovely photographer, best friend, support system, decorating assistant, stress reducer, and husband. Thanks love for all your help.

Check out the rest of the album here!

lemon tart

I am first going to apologize for the not so pretty pictures. It was late and the light was not good enough for the point-and-shoot. I don't have my fancy camera at the moment (and won't for the whole month!) because my dearest love took it with him to Hawaii for work. Ahh, if only I had to work in Hawaii for a month too.... I know it won't be all fun and games but it must feel more like summer than San Francisco. The quote is true you know, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" ~ Mark Twain.

Since I am lonesome and it is cold winter here, I invited some girls over for dinner the other night. We had some good bread, good soup, and a fine dessert. I do recommend you visit Sass & Veracity for a wonderful Asparagus soup recipe. (I've had some frozen for a while now since I am the only one who eats it). The only things I did differently than the recipe is add a can of drained and rinsed cannellini beans and only add 1/4 C (maybe just less) cream vs cream and creme fraiche (what I had on hand). Very good.

I have come to terms with the fact that I am no Pierre Herme. I have not yet learned the fine art of pastry cream but am a willing student. This is my second attempt at this dessert. The first time my food processor broke just before I was able to blend in the butter... needless to say it wasn't a hit. This one though was rather good. The cream was not as stiff as I think it should be but definitely had a delicate flavor and texture. I should also mention that it is unsafe to hold your pastry crust in one hand while unwrapping it with foil as it is likely to break into pieces, which it did. Luckily we averted disaster because the tart shell broke off in a large chunk. Oh my. Thankfully, I was not being judged on looks! It is nice to have a disaster every now and then. It helps put things in perspective and keep a level head for my perfectionism.

Like I said before, it wasn't perfect. A little soupier than expected but good. Maybe I'll try something other than lemon next time to break the curse.

Strawberry Shortcake, Perfect for a Picnic

We celebrated another birthday this week! For some reason this past week I went a little crazy in the kitchen and baked something almost every night. Some for my own pleaseure and the rest were either challenges or birthday cakes. I really do love doing it, but baking all night after a 9 hr day sometimes is quite exhausting. The crazy week ended with me baking 4 cakes on Friday (luckily my day off) for a tasting on Saturday and the birthday. For this birthday I got a simple request for a cake. Nothing in particular - just birthday cake. She must trust me.... I sent her some images of berry tarts and cakes and she picked strawberry shortcake. I really wanted to invent a giant biscuit shortcake but didn't have enough time to experiment in case of disaster. Instead, I used a couple of recipes as a base to create an interesting bright citrus cake with some delicious strawberries on top.

I found some tasty strawberries from our local Coop, small enough in size that they would slice nicely and ripe enough to give up their juices. I am not a fan of recipes that require gelatin for berry toppings. I understand the point of it but find it sort of repulsive and unnecessary for fruit to stick together like glue. It will kind of do this naturally if you add some sugar and macerate them (it would be best to substitute with a good strawberry jam heated to a pourable consistency). I liked the way the cake turned out, unfortunately it had started to melt by the time we cut into it (melt in the whipped cream sense). Our birthday girl didn't mind and managed to take down two slices. For a tiny thing she sure can eat dessert! It is always nice to make fun cakes for friends. Especially when you get free reign to make up you own recipe!

Strawberry Shortcake

1/2 C butter

1/2 C sugar

zest from one lemon

1 1/2 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs + 2 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 C whole milk

1 1/2 lb strawberries, sliced

squeeze of lemon

1 1/2 C heavy cream

1 T powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

For the Cake:

In the bowl of a mixer zest the lemon over the sugar. Rub together with your fingers until the sugar is fragrant. Cream the butter and sugar. Add in eggs one at a time then the vanilla. Whisk together flour, powder, salt. Add 1/3 dry mix into the butter mix. Add 1/2 the milk, continue alternating flour and milk ending with flour. Pour into a parchment lined, buttered and floured 8" pan. Bake at 350* for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the top comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 mins then turn onto a wire wrack to cool completely.

For the Strawberries:

Slice thin and place in a glass bowl. Spoon a little sugar over the top and a squeeze of lemon. Stir to coat, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

For the Cream:

Whip with an electric mixer, add in powdered sugar about half way through. Continue whipping until fluffy and soft peaks form. Add in vanilla.

To assemble the cake:

Cut into two layers (don't forget to peel off the parchment!) and place the bottom layer on a cake stand or board. Spoon about 1/2 the strawberry mix onto the cut side of the cake. Add 1/2 the whipped cream and smooth with a spatula. Place the next layer on cut side down. Smooth remaining whipped cream on top. I recommend refrigerating the cake for 30 minutes to keep the cream cool but if you can't no worries. Just before serving, spoon the rest of the berries on top. If your cake has to travel to the park like mine and you can't wait to add the strawberries just make a little well for the strawberries to sit inside so the juice doesn't leak out all over the cake. Cut and serve.

Lemon Tart... almost

For my friend Rebecca's Birthday I decided to make her a Tart. She dislikes cake (which I just can't understand) and has a fondness for tarts that might beat the french. I have never attempted a tart before and was pretty anxious about it - especially since I was baking for the connoisseur of tarts. I put my faith in Dorie Greenspan and her cookbook to help me through it. There were a lot of recipes to choose from, but I thought starting with Lemon made sense (don't ask why). The crust is a basic tart dough - which I can handle - and the filling is a finicky temperature driven, whisking nightmare.... well, maybe not a nightmare but easy enough to mess up. I also don't have a blender and had to use my food processor for the butter emulsifying step. If only the plumber had not come to fix the slow drain, the tart filling might have turned out.... To sum up a long story, the plumber plugged in his tools in our ancient outlets and blew a fuse (which zapped my food processor and shocked my finger). Unfortunately, I could not complete the last step with the butter. And my food processor is dead. Thankfully our landlord will replace it. In order not to waste an interesting lemon creme I decided to try and make it into something a little sweeter and lighter. I whipped up some cream and added just a little bit of powdered sugar and vanilla. Raspberries are also a good addition to most lemon dessert so I added some of those too. I made a graham cracker crust and broke it into pieces for the base, added lemon creme, and topped with whipped cream and berries. Result: a very tart and sweet dessert... the kind that makes you shake your head a few times because of the sweetness. Maybe not a successful stand alone dish, but something that you might spread thinly on a slab of pound cake, toast, or really any other similar use for lemon curd. I make a coconut cake with lemon curd filling and cream cheese coconut frosting that this would be delicious with. For now, Rebecca's dessert will have to wait (she was gracious and understanding with the food processor error). Luckily I have a tart dough waiting in the freezer for the right moment. Maybe after our vacation!

Daring Bakers: Four Cheesecakes

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. I recently joined the group Daring Bakers. It is an online community of bakers who come together once a month and bake the same recipe. As you can see from my title, this month's challenge was Cheesecake. Jenny chose this recipe and asked the bakers to be creative and alter the recipe however they wish by adding ingredients, changing the crust, or making an interesting topping. I decided this was the best challenge to break in my new 4" mini spring form pans. Since we were supposed to get creative, and I had four pans to get creative with, I decided to make four versions of the Cheesecake: Pistachio Crust with Basic Cheesecake filling + lemon zest Pretzel Crust with Margerita Cheesecake filling Graham Cracker Crust with Lemon Cheesecake filling + Blueberry Compote Graham Cracker Crust with Vanilla Bean filling I have had a recipe in my box for Pistachio Lime Tart for a while now and since I haven't made it yet, I thought it was time to steal the idea for a Pistachio crust. Though the recipe is more like a pie dough for the tart, I made mine more like a typical cheesecake crust using about 2/3 pistachios and 1/3 graham crackers. It turned out really well with the basic cheesecake filling and lemon zest. My other ideas for the cheesecakes were somewhat random. I liked the idea of lemon cheesecake and wanted to use up some lemons from my CSA box and decided to try a Blueberry Compote based on a recipe from a blog I follow. The lemon cheesecake could be a lot more lemony, but it was hard to tell how much to add to a 4" pan. I think the addition of blueberries was not necessary, but interesting and varying from the regular lemon + raspberry combination. With a little tweaking this recipe will be successful. I have also had a little vile of vanilla beans in my spice cabinet for too long and decided to break them open for the cheesecake. They are so expensive I kind of think of them as sacred - but am glad I took them off of their pedestal for this recipe. The addition of vanilla bean was delicious and not too overpowering and the left over pod will make a great addition to sugar. The fourth cake - the Margarita - was inspired by my friend Joey. The fact that I have a huge weakness for Margaritas did not help my quest to make this recipe work. I used pretzels for the crust for the salty addition and added lime juice and zest and triple sec. Interesting is a good description. I think with a little makeover it would be lovely and very different. Here is the recipe and below my variations. Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust: 2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs 1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted 2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake: 3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature 1 cup / 210 g sugar 3 large eggs 1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream 1 tbsp. lemon juice 1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean) 1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Variations (for full 9" cheesecake): Lemon Cheesecake Crust: Graham Cracker Crust Filling: Add zest of 3 lemons 3 T lemon juice (no liquor) Pistachio Cheesecake Crust: 1C finely ground pistachios 1/3 C graham cracker crumbs 1 T sugar (more if you like sweeter crust) Filling: zest of 1 lemon Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Crust: Graham Cracker Crust Filling: Add contents of 1 vanilla bean to filling no liquour Margarita Cheesecake (changes for next time) Crust: Graham Cracker Crust 1T sugar 1tsp salt no vanilla Filling: zest of 3 limes 1/3 C lime juice Substitute Orange Extract for Vanilla 1T Tequila Coarse Salt with zest for garnish