Milk Chocolate Cheesecake

You will need:
Jack Daniel’s
Coke
Ice

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup melted butter
3 tblspn sugar

4 8 ounce cream cheese at room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup sour cream
2 teaspn vanilla
11.5 ounce bag of milk chocolate chips
milk chocolate bar

Combine the Jack Daniel’s, Coke, and ice in a tall glass. Drink it. Season to taste.

Heat oven to 350 F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, 3 tblspn sugar, and melted butter.  Save ¼ cup of this mixture. Butter the bottom of a 9” springform pan and form a crust on the bottom only. I use a stainless steel cook’s salt shaker for this. Bake at 350 for ten minutes. Remove and let it cool.

When it’s cool, butter the side of the pan and spread the rest of the graham cracker mix on it. A basting brush helps. Sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips on the bottom of the pan.

Melt the rest of the chocolate chips with the heavy cream over low heat.

Mix the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla at low speed only.  Too fast and there will be too much air in it, which causes the cake to crack. Use a spatula to clean the side of the bowl so there are no lumps of unmixed batter.

Pour it in the springform pan. I mention this in case you have combined more than one or two tall glasses of Jack Daniel’s, Coke, and ice. I use a water bath. I have a foil turkey pan that holds my springform pan after I bent it a little bit. Springform pans aren’t water-tight, so I wrap the springform pan in 16” aluminum foil. You can get this at most supermarkets. Wal Mart definitely has it. Put it on a cookie sheet so you can lift it and put an inch or so of hot water in the turkey pan. Bake at 325 F for one hour. It should jiggle a little bit in the center when it’s done. Remember to use an oven mitt when you shake the pan to test it, in case you have continued to combine the Jack Daniel’s, Coke, and ice in the tall glass.

Shut off the heat and leave the cake in the oven.  Prop the door open a little bit. A wooden spoon works for this. I use one of the beaters from my blender. Let it cool slowly. This helps to prevent cracking.

Let it cool for 30 minutes. Grate up some of the chocolate bar, about an ounce and a half, and garnish the top of it. Let it cool for another 30 minutes, then cover it and put it in the refrigerator for at least a day. It takes time for it to set up properly and for all the flavors to come out. It will be best after two days, but you probably can’t wait that long. I can’t.

looks and sounds great

Yummy.



I skipped the lemon peel in the cheesecake and added a cup of blueberries to it. It's still cooling.

This is:
2 cup blueberries
1/2 c water
1/2 c sugar
2 tblespn lemon juice

slow boil

mix
3 tblespn corn starch
3 tblespn cold water

add to blueberry mix
simmer five minutes
remove from heat
add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and lemon zest to taste