Cheesecake heaven is a wonderful place to be
I forecast a British cream cheese shortage in the near future.
Rosalie Price of Saratoga wants to help her sister-in-law in England replace a beloved missing cheesecake recipe for a taller-than-usual cake that feeds a crowd. Price’s sister-in-law will need to stock up on cream cheese to try all the recipes Home Plates readers sent. I’m forwarding all your contributions to Price — and one of those recipes accompany today’s column.
Maureen Kawaoka of El Cerrito thinks her tangy New Yorkstyle cheesecake is a fitting replacement. Her cheesecake includes a pound of cream cheese, two cups of sour cream and a bit of lemon juice and lemon zest. I’m intrigued by the precise, yet quirky baking instructions. You bake the cheesecake for an hour at 300 degrees, then leave it in the oven with the door closed and the oven turned off for 30 minutes more. And finally, you let the cake rest inside the oven for another half-hour with the door open.
If you can’t lay your hands on a springform pan, then Vicki Gutgesell of Oakland has the cheesecake for you. Her favorite recipe includes a cookie-type crust baked in a pie plate and topped with a homemade strawberry glaze. (Find the recipe at www.mercurynews.com/tag/ home-plates/.)
Second helpings
“Thank you for reminding me about the dried fruit ‘brandy’ that was popular in the 1970s,” says Dee Danna of San Jose. “My mom always had at least one jar in the pantry. It was often hard to find anyone to drink the liqueur — too sweet! — but the remaining fruit was her secret ingredient in nut bread and some-
times in cookies.”
Danna had an “aha!” moment when she read the recent column about rock-candy apricot brandy. “I thought, ‘That’s why the banana bread doesn’t taste as good as I remember!’ I might soak some dried fruit with rock candy and vodka this summer, so I will have fruit for fall baking,” she says. “Thank you for a very sweet memory.”
The recipe left Susan Carothers with a couple of questions about rock candy. Rock candy is a sweet made of large sugar crystals formed on a string or stick. If you’re feeling ambitious or want to channel your inner Bill Nye the Science Guy, you can make your own rock candy at home. Recipes and experiments abound online. Or you can buy rock candy at Amazon or sites such as www.oldtimecandy.com.