Welcome Home Darling.....I Made Cheesecake!

I wanted to "WOW the darling" with my culinary skills.

And so begins my tale of woe.......

 I carefully prepared a hot water bath for you....oh baby o' mine.

I stroked you gently and poured you into your nice, cozy springform pan.

I even toasted your almonds for heaven's sake.

I made certain to smooth your top before placing you into the toasty warm oven.

Then.....

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....

What in the world happened? Once the cheesecake began to separate and fall into a messy puddle of cream, darling said, "oh my! It's running onto the counter...start scooping!"

Sooooo....a horrible ending to my glorious presentation! All night I pondered what went wrong, what could I do to salvage all that delicious creaminess?

I have been a southern cook way too many years to let this defeat me! Armed with an idea, I headed back into the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning and began to work feverishly on the "cheesecake....take two!"

Yes, my darlings.....the original cheesecake in all of her glory!

I recalled that one of our favorite places to eat after church on Sunday's in Jackson was Morrison's cafeteria. They had the most divine cheesecake which was topped with a layer of sour cream. So, I carefully pushed and patted her back together, replaced the springform pan, placed her gently into the waterbath and rebaked at 325 degrees F. for about 25 minutes. I then placed her in the refrigerator for three hours. The next step was to ever so carefully release the springform circle and voila.....all was well. She was steady and spectacular! Now she was ready for the thin layer of sour cream, followed by a dollop of whipping cream and a sprinkling of shaved chocolate. So, my darlings, if you experience a failure ever so often in the kitchen....don't sweat the small stuff...reinvent! It may be better the second time around!

MASCARPONE CHEESECAKE

Toasted Almond Crust

1 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted

2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

The Filling

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature

2 (8-ounce) containers mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Tightly wrap the outside of a 9-inch diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with 3 layers of heavy-duty foil. Finely grind the almonds, cracker crumbs, and sugar in a food processor. Add the butter and process until moist crumbs form. Press the almond mixture onto the bottom of the prepared pan (not on the sides of the pan). Bake the crust until it is set and beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. Cool. Decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

For the filling: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Pour the cheese mixture over the crust in the pan. Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the center of the cheesecake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour 5 minutes.

This was my mistake...so don't skip this part!!

 (the cake will become firm when it is cold). Transfer the cake to a rack; cool for 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days.