Happy New Year!

How were the holiday’s for you and your family?  Ours were busy busy busy, but full of love and traditions.  Every year my husband’s family, “The Benson’s” as I call them, get together on a weekend before or after Christmas, share a meal and do a gift exchange.  The different households alternate hosting and this year it was my mother-in-laws turn.

She asked me to take charge of the dessert so I brought a Chocolate Pudding Pie, and a plain cheesecake with cherries for topping.

I’m not going to get too detailed about the baking part of the cheesecake since it isn’t my original recipe, but I’ll post some baking notes at the end of the blog.. just some things I picked up as I went along.

This cheesecake recipe came from the book Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 and it’s supposed to be a copycat of the Original Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake.

I think it turned out pretty great! 🙂

 

My two babies waiting to open gifts!

 

And some examples of my four year old using her new Instax camera (Thanks Uncle Jett!!).  She used this as an opportunity to practice and she *might* have cropped out her new baby cousin in the picture on the right.  Oops!

Practice makes perfect – she’ll figure it soon!

 

Here’s everyone gathered around the table for dessert (minus my mom-in-law who took the picture, and my husband who had to work – disappointing, I know).

“What is Christmas?  It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.” – Agnes M. Pahro

 

Now.. onto the goodies…

 

If you’ve never baked a cheesecake before this is as BASIC as it gets.

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

• The recipe is great for a cheesecake baking “beginner.”  It’s rich and creamy deliciousness is satisfying all by itself, or easily customizable for add-ins.  Bonus, it feeds a large crowd!

 

• Don’t skimp on the quality of the cream cheese – Philadelphia is a great choice!

 

• Do NOT over-mix the batter.  When you over-mix, you’re putting air into the batter that eventually rises leaving large cracks on the top.  I know this to be true because I over-mixed 😀

 

• Make sure to line the bottom of your spring-form pan with foil before putting it into the water bath.

 

• The “topping” at the very end is just sour cream and sugar.  I enhanced it with a pinch of salt and splash of vanilla extract.

 

• Break away from the norm and use various topping such as pie fillings like blueberry or peach with lemon zest, or even caramel sauce with chocolate shavings and crushed pecans.

You can find the VERY EASY recipe here:

Copycat Cheesecake Factory Original Cheesecake

Enjoy xoxo ❤