Metro had Philadelphia cream cheese buy one get one free so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to made my first real cheesecake- none of that no-bake baloney for me!
I must confess that I found this quite a difficult dessert to make. The mixing and whatnot was easy, as was making the graham cracker crust. I consulted my bible The Joy of Cooking and thoroughly read the section on cheesecakes, paying close attention to the baking methods as I really did not want my cheesecake to crack.
I baked it on a high temperature for 10 minutes as per the instructions, and then for 30 minutes or so on low. I turned the oven off, opened the door and let it cool in the oven, again as per the instructions.
Stupid cake cracked. There was a giant fissure across the top, a veritable San Andreas Fault marring the beauty of my creation. Darn it!I left it in five minutes too long. I lied earlier, it was closer to 45 minutes. I didn't trust my instincts and assumed that I knew more than the experts of Joy of Cooking. I thought that it still looked too wet and jiggly in the middle and let it bake for longer. Turns out that there is a reason they tell you to only bake it until it's firm on the edges and wet and jiggly in the middle- it's cooling in a hot oven, it's going to finish baking then! Duh. Sometimes I am such a dummy.
I disguised the crack with some canned cherry pie filling. I would have preferred chocolate ganache or caramel sauce, but Christopher loooooves cherry pie filling and I couldn't be bothered to make it from scratch. Canned filling it is! Once the topping was on, it completely disguised my mistake and despite the petite snafu, my first cheesecake was quite delicious- light and fluffy, rich and decadent. I brought a few pieces for the girls at work and Chris and I each had two pieces. I gave a third of the cake to Tynna, because she is the real cheesecake lover in this family.
Not bad Shannon, not bad at all.
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