Rosie Makes A Birthday Cheese Cake For Xmaskatie.

Sunday was Xmaskatie's birthday and she likes my cheesecake so that's what Rosie's making for her. Actually I'll be making two cheesecakes - one for Xmaskatie in a 9 1/2 inch spring form pan and one for the Hawthornes in a 7 inch pan since they'll all bitch and moan and whine if Xmaskatie gets a cheesecake and they don't.

For my crust: 1 package graham cracker crumbs 2 cups ginger snaps 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 stick butter, melted

The graham crackers and the ginger snaps all went into my Cuisinart food processor.

Process until you have fine crumbs, then add in the brown sugar and give it a few pulses to mix.

Pour in the butter and pulse a few times to incorporate it evenly.

Press the crumb mixture evenly into the pans and partway up the sides.

For the cheese cake batter: 5 packages cream cheese 1 pint sour cream 2 cups sugar 6 eggs 3 TB corn starch 3 TB flour 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 TB vanilla Process cream cheese until smooth and creamy, being sure to scrape down the side of the bowl. Gradually add in sugar with machine going.

Blend in the milk and cream.

Add in eggs one at a time, just pulsing a few times after each addition to combine.

Add in the sour cream.

The vanilla.

And the flour and cornstarch. Pulse just to combine.

Pour into pans.

Looking through my pantry, I found a 7 ounce bar of dark chocolate that was calling out to me.

Isn't that pretty chocolate? I broke it into pieces and nuked it until smooth and pourable.

I drizzled the chocolate over the cheesecakes.

And swirled it around.

These look kind of Jackson Pollockish.

Now they're ready for a preheated 350 degree oven for 70 minutes.

Oooh. You can see the cheesecake rising. After the 70 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the cakes in the oven for 5-6 hours. Do not open the door.

Six hours later, here are my cheesecakes.

I really liked the chocolate swirl in the cheesecake.

Have you ever had a bad cheesecake? I didn't think so.