Cheesecake and toothache

I would like to clarify that this cheesecake will not give you a toothache. Well I guess it could if you ate a lot of it, and never brushed or flossed. Fat and toothache-y. But that is probably more to do with dental hygiene than the cheesecake. This cheesecake is innocent.

However, my tooth is not. I had a dentist appointment yesterday and mentioned that this tooth over here was bugging me and is it the one I needed to get a root canal done on? He said if we didn't do it very quickly, we would need a root canal. So we (more actually he) drilled and drilled and had me rinse several times with listerene to kill all present bacteria. Apparently your tooth can be a sleeping dragon and roar awake when it is poked and prodded and drilled. (Reasonable enough I suppose) My tooth dragon is apparently plotting my slow and agonizing demise. I just saw some spoiled kids sued their mother for bad parenting because she never sent her kids care packages in college or sent birthday money in their cards. (yeah, okay morons!) The judge threw the case out. Sensible judge. Maybe I could sue my parents for poor teeth genetics. They knowingly brought me into the world of poor teeth. Or I could sue my children from leeching valuable calcium from my teeth while in utero. I am just sue happy this morning. Just TRY backing into me and getting away with it. Or disappointing me in anyway--I am creative with lawsuits. ( I blame this suing talk on my sore tooth)

Really, this was meant to be a post about cheesecake. However, when you have a roaring dragon, albeit a very miniature one, in your mouth it is hard not to comment on it. Anyway, to ignore my less than stellar set of teeth for awhile, here is the only recipe for cheesecake you will ever really need. I know, big words. Every time I make this though, at least one person tells me "this is the best cheesecake I have ever had." I will assume they mean homemade. When I am feeling in adequate, I allow myself in my secret heart to pretend they mean ALL cheesecake ever. It makes me feel special. And just so you don't think I am some cheesecake whisperer, when I give this recipe to people and they make it, people tell them it is the best cheesecake ever.

Ironically, this recipe did not come from a renowned source. It was actually on some Grandma's Kitchen recipe cards that I got the year or so after I got married. One of those, see how cool these are?--buy a lot more things. It featured a yin-yang top with kiwi and peach jams in their respective sides. Very weird. Very 1990's. Yin-yang necklace pairs replaced best friend necklaces in high school. So much more sophisticated. I never yin-yanged it.

Anyway, I use this cheesecake as the base for most other cheesecakes. I have made a carmel apple cheesecake, a strawberry-rhubarb cheesecake, blueberry topped, etc, etc. (I am thinking of making a maple butter cheesecake.) It is versatile. And yummy. Which is the main thing.

I have a new kitchenaid. This seemed like a good place to mention this. It is a 6 qt one. Lindsey had bought me a 4.5 qt one that was my sidekick for 8 years, moving all over Colorado, Alaska, and New York with nary a complaint. This last year, however, it has started to moan and stutter about kneading bread. Yes, this is a first world problem. And Amazon tempted me beyond what I could endure by offering this in a the 4.5 qt price range. Not my fault. But now, I am secretly embarrassed by so much power on my kitchen counter. Seems ostentatious. Connie P, one of the best cooks we know and love doesn't have a kitchen aid and has made better food than I for many a long year. Still, this behemouth can handle 14 cups of flour. That is a TRIPLE recipe of the rolls I made in the 4.5 quart. The downside to this is that is sounds like an angry bee while it is one. I am hoping that wears down to a pleasant, companionable rumble. The 4.5 qt is going to find a new home in Owen and Ashley's kitchen, since they don't have a kitchen-aid.  

There is my confession. My head is turned by mechanical beauty and power.

This is my new apron from Clover. LOVE. I have a nice selection of aprons now. I can choose any one of them and feel elegantly housewifey.

This time I put the graham crackers through the shredding disc on the food processor and woah! Beautiful. None of those big lumps that stick around after just processing them.

Mix with butter and sugar.

Press into pans and a little up the sides.

Beat cream cheese for two minutes before adding ingredients

Then skip ahead to where we have pictures again and pour the completed cheese cake into a pan.

Bake and voila! Yumminess.

This my friends, is goodness. Cracked top goodness. Believe me, this is good enough, no one really cares if the top cracked or not. I keep meaning to play around with a water bath to see if that would keep it from cracking, but I guess I don't care that much.

Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 T sugar
1/4 c melted butter

Mix and press into 10 inch springform pan.

5 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese
1 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c sour cream
3 T flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp grated lemon peel

Beat cream cheese 2 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Add sugar. Gradually add flour. Beat in eggs one at a time on low speed. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into crust. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours at 325. Chill or cool completely.

Yes, that is 40 oz of cream cheese. I never said it was healthy! But it IS good. Justin requests this for his birthday, rather than a cake. Last month, when I was making his birthday cheesecake, I didn't have sour cream, so I substituted that new Philiadelphia baking cream cheese and it was just as good or better. Also, the last time or two I haven't chilled my cheesecake, due to the constraints of time and I think it is actually BETTER not chilled. More flavorful and creamy. Personal preference though.

And this my friends is sadness. Multitasking sadness. As in carrying Gilbert and opening doors at the same time. Only a little went to waste though. Just the stuff that was literal ON the car. Not all that luscious stuff that is simply lying on top of the stuff on the car. It is that good.