In the Kitchen With Mattie

Hubby loves cheesecake, not a store purchased but but the one I make for him. I’ve been making it for him now for almost 40 years and he really enjoys it but it is very rare for him to ask for it. He seems to think he shouldn’t request me to make anything for him, his reasoning is he doesn’t want me to spend time in a hot kitchen on his account, he doesn’t seem to get it that I like spending time in a kitchen and it is relaxing to me. I stayed up last night and made this after he went to sleep, I stayed up because it is hot down south at this time of year and I didn’t want to heat up the house anymore during daylight hours so I wanted to bake it after he was sleeping, plus I wanted to surprise him with a treat for dinner tonight. He got two of his favorites tonight, the cheesecake and some chicken parmesan, he was a really happy guy at dinnertime! This is NOT a light cheesecake, it is heavy and creamy and dense so I don’t make it too often, it improves with age if it lasts more than a few days in the fridge.

                                                 Cheesecake

3 pounds Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature

2 jumbo eggs

1 cup  sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla, I use a vanilla paste

1 1/2 cups of sour cream

1/4 pound butter, melted and cooled

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

topping of your choice

Put cream cheese in a large bowl and add eggs one at a time, mixing with a hand mixer or stand mixer until well combined. Add sugar and continue mixing until incorporated, add butter, flour and vanilla and mix well. Finally add sour cream and mix just until incorporated, you don’t want an airy batter, you just want it well mixed, I mix it all together on low-medium speed.Wrap the bottom of a 9 or 10 inch springform pan with a layer of plastic wrap and then one of foil, fill with the batter, place into a roasting pan and pour boiling water into the roasting pan to come 1/3-1/2 up the side of the springform pan, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, turn oven off but leave cake in with the oven door ajar for another hour. Remove from oven and wrap well with foil and place in fridge, let set for at least 8 hours, remove sides from pan and decorate the top with any fruit of your choice and serve.

Here are some pictures of the rest of tonights dinner…………….