We've been invited to dinner tonight, and since I assigned myself the task of bringing dessert, I thought I would try my first ever homemade cheesecake.
Incidentally, this has been a month of baking firsts for me. For instance, last week I made my first chocolate cake from scratch, complete with cream cheese frosting. Formerly a Pillsbury cake mix and frosting-in-a-can kind of girl, I have to confess that it really does taste better when you make it with flour, eggs, and sugar from your own pantry.
As for cheesecakes, the closest thing my family ever made to the real thing were those Jello no-bake recipes which, naturally, came from a box. They were tasty, but I sincerely hope that my effort today tastes...well...more impressive? More like the Cheesecake Factory and less like...Jello (not that I have anything against Jello, of course).
Obviously I'll have to wait until after dinner to see how it actually turned out (pretty doesn't mean tasty), but since it didn't explode in the oven, and it smells like a cheesecake ought, I'm fairly optimistic.
For the record, I used a simple graham cracker crust and a cheese-filling recipe from Ellie Krieger's The Foods You Crave (she substitutes part skim ricotta for some of the cream cheese). And the topping is just fudge with a few toffee sprinkles (I couldn't resist...).
Hope you all enjoy your weekend! I will be eating cheesecake.
Thanks for the dessert. The Cheesecake was good!! The orange essence was a little strong for Dan but he liked it too!! Glad you both came over!!
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