2/11/21 Cook’s Corner
From Betty Kaiser
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Thank goodness. A day filled with hugs, kisses, chocolates and Cupid, is perfect to offset this year’s dreary, pandemic, winter blues.
Much has been written about why we celebrate Valentine’s Day. The reasons range from honoring the Roman God of Fertility to the Aztec’s love of chocolate as an aphrodisiac. Personally, I think it’s a mixed bag of traditions that have evolved over centuries and Cupid is also a great excuse to eat chocolate!
Right this minute, in stores around the country, bright-red, foil-wrapped, heart-shaped boxes are filled with chocolates saying, “Buy me, buy me!” You can’t miss them sitting alongside greeting cards and fancy jewelry.
Some of my favorite Valentine’s Days were in elementary school. We kids decorated shoeboxes with doilies, hearts and flowers, in anticipation of all the valentine cards and candy hearts we would receive. After the card exchange, we took them home and cherished them for weeks. The day was a celebration of friendship, innocence and joy.
Today with our adult kids and grandsons living far away, our celebrations are still simple. Chuck and I exchange funny, silly or sweet cards. He brings me a bouquet of flowers and I whip up his favorite dessert. Unfortunately, unlike in the magazine ads, no diamonds or new cars are exchanged.
Hands down, Chuck’s favorite dessert is cheesecake. He’ll eat almost any kind that you put in front of him, but his favorite is “Jeannie’s Fabulous Cheesecake.”
For many years, we belonged to a dinner group with a half dozen other couples. It was called “Squat and Gobble.” (Thanks, Harry!).
Every year we all celebrated Chuck’s September birthday at our house on Labor Day weekend. After a rousing game of badmitten or Croquet we chowed down on dinner and dessert.
Jeannie is famous for her fabulous cheesecake and she shared the recipe with me. Well, one year when I was in California greeting a new born grandson, Chuck got hungry for Cheesecake. He found and baked Jeannie’s recipe.
After years in the restaurant business the man knows how to cook. But it’s usually not dessert and this recipe could have killed him. (This was before he knew he had diabetes!) It is full of butter, sugar, eggs, whipping cream, 3 pounds of cream cheese, etc. So, he made the dessert and ate it all before I came home! Oy!
I, however, am not that crazy about cheesecake. I like it but it’s a little boring for my taste buds. So, I found another recipe with a topping that features crunchy pecans and apples. It sounds yummy but I haven’t tried it yet so let me know which one you like. Enjoy!
JEANNIE’S FABULOUS CHEESECAKE
CRUST
1/4-pound butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
Preheat oven to 350° F. Melt butter. Add sugar, egg yolk and flour. Pat 1/2 of mixture on bottom of 9” Springform pan and the remaining half up sides. Bake 10 min. or until golden brown. Remove from oven and increase heat to 450° F.
FILLING
3 pounds cream cheese (six 8-ounce packages)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup whipping cream
Juice of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract
Slightly warm cheese to soften it. Add all ingredients and beat with mixer until smooth. Pour into pan. Set timer and bake for 12 min. Turn heat off and leave the cake in the oven for 2 hours. Do not open oven door. No peeking! After two hours, remove from oven and heat oven to 350° F.
TOPPING
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Combine all ingredients until smooth. Spoon onto baked cheesecake and spread evenly. Bake an additional 8 min. Let cool and then refrigerate 1-2 hours or until serving time. Serves 12 (or more).
APPLE PECAN CHEESECAKE
(Source unknown)
Crust:
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
Preheat oven to 325° F. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil. Mix crumbs, butter and sugar; press onto bottom of pan. Bake 10 min. Remove.
Filling:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 pounds (4-8 ounce packages) Cream Cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in mixer until blended. Add sour cream, blend; Add eggs on at a time, mixing on slow speed after each just until blended. Pour into crust.
Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 cups chopped, peeled apples
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix all ingredients together and sprinkle over batter. Bake 1 hour or about 65 min. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve. Makes up to 16 small servings.
- Read Betty's columns bi-monthly in the Cottage Grove Sentinel
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