So when Christy and I started this blog it was determined that my posts would deal mostly with subjects in the field of philosophy and theology. I thought it appropriate to begin my adventures in the blogosphere by dealing with neither topic. Instead I will here present a detailed account of the finer point of preparing a cheesecake (I mean come on, philosophers and theologians have to eat some time!)
The impetus' behind this project was the incessant nagging of a dear friend of mine for me to satiate his uncontrollable urge for cheesecake (just kidding Terrence in case you read this). Unfortunately, this means that we did not get to taste test this one but going on the assumption that this one tasted very similar to the other ones I've made, I'm guessing it will be pretty good.
The recipe is a slight modification of the Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake found in the 2011 edition of Better Homes and Gardens All-Time Favorites recipe book.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup powdered sugar1/3 cup butter, melted
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces (6 ounces), melted and cooled
First I smashed 9 graham crackers into a mixing bowl, added the powdered sugar and melted butter and mixed them all together.
Once this was all mixed, I put about 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of a springform pan and pressed it all around. Then, I took the rest of the mixture and put it around the edge of the pan and used a spoon to push it up the sidewalls to form a wall (it was supposed to be about 2 inches high but yeah, that didn't work too well).
Having set that aside, I moved on to the filling. As anyone knows, the filling is the most important part. Think back to those Little Debbie's commercials where everyone was asking "Hey! Where's the cream filling?" They all understood (animals included) that anything can have a good exterior but it's what inside that counts. Oh wait. I said I wasn't going to get off into the other -ologies yet.
The filling consisted of the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar, raspberries, and chocolate (basically everything else you have left after the crust).
I mixed the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together.
Then, added the eggs and vanilla.
Next I melted the chocolate and added that.
Finally, I gently folded the raspberries into the mixture.
The final step is to pour the mixture into the prepared crust, smooth out the mixture so it's all even on top, and pop it into the oven (which is conveniently set at 350 degrees).
It bakes for about 50 minutes or until roughly 2 inches around the edge stays firm when shaken (don't shake it too hard or you'll have to start all over again, not to mention having to do some serious cleaning of your oven).
Once it's done, set it on a cooling rake. We have a very nice cooling rake from Pampered Chef but that has little influence on the quality of the cake, I just thought I throw it in there since I waited like a year before we got a cooling rake.
It cools in stages. First it just sits on the rake for 15 minutes doing what cheesecakes do best: looking WAY to tempting! Second (or as some people so irritatingly put: "Secondly". "Secondly"? Seriously, what's that supposed to mean?You don't say "Firstly" or "Twelfthly" or "Eighty-Thirdly" so why say secondly?), I took a plastic brownie knife, which coincidentally was also from Pampered Chef (I think it was a wedding gift) and separated the cake from the springform pan and let it cool for another 30 minutes. Third (see above for my views on "Thirdly"), I removed the springform pan entirely and ...let it cool again, this time for a whole hour. Once it's done cooling to roughly room temperature, I placed it in the refrigerate to cool for another 4 hours. This is going to be one cool cheesecake. Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.
There you have it! A Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake!
