Tuesday, December 30, 2008

TWD: Cheesecake! (aka: Eat Your Heart out, Golden Girls!)


Anne Strawberry, thank you for choosing Tall & Creamy Cheesecake (Baking, from my Home toYours, Dorie Greenspan) for our last recipe of 2008 on Tuesdays With Dorie! I was excited to try it, yet fearing "can I really tackle this?" I don't know why it was such a big mystery before...maybe due to the fact that it is a favorite of so many...that it became worthy of a chain of restaurants bearing its name....Yet it turns out, I followed Dorie's instructions to the letter, and darnit, I made a good gosh darn cheesecake!

I chose Dec 23rd to put it all together, not only because I did not have to work that day, more because Dear Husband DID. You see, my dear lactose intolerant mate would have probably bust an intestine seeing the lineup of the ingredients....4 packages of cream cheese...heavy whipping cream...sour cream...the man would have spontaneously combusted just looking at all of that lined up on the counter! He can regulate having dairy by doing the lactaid milk, or taking the lactaid pills before eating pizza, or lasagna....but THIS?...NO amount of medicated preventative medicine in the cabinet would have saved his digestive system. He can take LOOKING at the finished product and appreciating in the way of: "it looks good---for those of you lucky enough to digest dairy." But I thought to spare him the whole ingredient list and showing him all that went into it (kind of like not wanting to know what goes into hot dogs or sausage, I suppose?!) Of course what he didn't see was me eat a piece of it Christmas night--with a side of egg nog! He would have accused me of showing off (but oh how I adore you, my lactose-loving digestive system!!)

I followed the recipe for the filling exactly--and opted for a package of Nabisco chocolate wafter cookies as the crust--which was sooo gooooood!! I'm not one for too many flavors in the 'cake' part, so liked having a nice chocolate base for the crust. Great compliment.

VOILA! A cheesecake fit for the likes of Blanche, Rose, Dorothy & Sophia!!








I had to show this next photo only because it hit me going through my pictures how the top of the cheesecake's color looks just like the kitchen table! Even down to the bubble 'knot holes'! Maybe I'm the only one amused with that...anyway...humor me:

23 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

Wow, what a beautiful cheesecake! I feel bad for your husband though, unable to enjoy it :(

Anonymous said...

This looks fabulous! Well done!

PheMom said...

Your cheesecake looks awesome. I'm glad you tackled something you never tried before and found out there was nothing to fear! Happy New Year!

Cathy said...

You DO make a gosh darn good cheesecake!! And it matches the table perfectly! I can see us sitting around that table in 40 years digging into that cheesecake (well, maybe not THAT cheesecake) just like Blanche, Dorothy, Rose & Co. Did you get to bring this to the Orvis Christmas pants party? I bet it was a huge hit!

Lady Baker said...

Cathy: No, it didn't go to Xmas Eve shindig, it was brought to my brother's on Christmas Day. Everyone loved it though the kids decided they had never heard of cheesecake, so didn't want to try! Too funny...they stuck to cookies and apple pie.

I forgot to take a photo of a slice of it..but it really came out creamy and perfectly smooth. I just love this recipe and gotta say I was proud of this one!

Peggy said...

Wow - I'm so impressed. I bet the chocolate wafers tasted great on the bottom. But I'm most impressed that you can drink nog with the cake. My stomach would not be able to tolerate all the milk! Happy New Year!

Anne said...

Your poor husband! I'm glad you could enjoy it anyways, it looks fabulous!

Danielle said...

LOL I feel sorry for your hubby, but that does leave more for you!
It came out great good job.

The Food Librarian said...

Looks fabulous!! I'm lactose intolerant too and took some pills and just had one bit!

TeaLady said...

A cheesecake table. That would take some getting used too. Spontaneous lacatose combustion. Poor Guy. Looks wonderful.

Amanda said...

Your cheesecake looks great. I too opted for a chocolate crust. I used the 100 Calorie packs of Oreo cookies.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

We have lactose intolerant people in my family too; in fact I drink Lactaid milk "just because". But how sad, really, not to be able to enjoy a creation like this - your cheesecake is simply stunning (even if it bears an uncanny resemblance to the kitchen table). I agree that the plain flavor is the best, although I do plan to make a gingersnap crust one of these days (when I can brave the cheesecake baking process again!)
Good job! And eggnog on the side: inspired.
Nancy

Anonymous said...

With how many cheesecakes the golden girls ate, I'll bet hardly any were home-made. They would probably kill for a cheesecake this good.

Pamela said...

I'm sorry your DH couldn't have any. I feel bad for the lactose intolerant. :o( Anyway, your cake looks fabulous.

Anonymous said...

The chocolate crust sounds yummy. Your cheesecake looks great!

Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

I love that color! This looks amazing.

Whenever I think of lactose intolerance, I always think of Meg Ryan in "French Kiss." Hilarious.

Anonymous said...

What a beauty! Good job on your first cheesecake! I suspect you are a convert now!

Kimberly Johnson said...

Beautiful job on the cheesecake. I love your idea to make the crust of chocolate cookies!

kimberly salem said...

your cheesecake came out perfectly! lol about the golden girls table. i feel bad for your husband :( but glad you liked it!

Jacque said...

Aaah, poor hubby. That was nice of you to spare him the agony.

Congrats, your cheesecake looks fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Your cheesecake looks great...almost like you used the kitchen table as a design inspiration. You should put miniature plates and stuff on top of your cheesecake. ;)

AmyRuth said...

These late night cheesecake photos and comments are making me want cheesecake right now. he he Yours looks beautiful and I'm kind of a purist too. I like subtle flavors and yummy crust too. Glad you got to enjoy it at least. Sorry about the poor hubs.
Happy 2009
AmyRuth

Anonymous said...

I love when these recipes live up to our expectations. I didn't make this one but plan on doing it just from all of the glowing reviews. I feel bad for your husband. Some of the best things in life are dairy!