Basic Needs and Birthdays

I find it much easier to justify my need to buy one of everything in the baking aisle at the supermarket because 9 times out of 10 (I haven’t done an exact survey of local grocery stores, but I sure have been to a lot of them and spent a sizeable percentage of my semi-weekly paycheck at them) the aisle has the heading, “Baking Needs.” As a good friend once told me, “It’s okay. They’re NEEDS, not just wants.” It would not be an overstatement to say that I routinely “need” enough floor, sugar, vanilla, and chocolate from that aisle to provide all of the yearly calories for a starving child in a war-torn country. There may be some guilt associated with these purchases.

I often find myself standing in said aisle, thinking to myself, “What do I NEED today?” and as I was gazing at the array of baking dishes of all shapes and sizes this evening I came to the realization that I couldn’t possibly need any of them, because I do in fact own at least one of each already. This is not to say that certain special pots and pans don’t exist that I don’t own, but apparently I’ve got the cake/pie/tart/muffin arena covered. I will no doubt find an excuse to purchase some ridiculous pan in the future, but not from that grocery store. Because, as I said, I already own all the ones they sell.

And now that I’ve confessed my addiction to purchasing baking-related goods, I would like to pretend, at least for a second, that it is sometimes for a good cause. I asked each of my advisees at the beginning of the year what their favorite dessert was, and promised to make it (or a close approximation of it) and bring it on their birthday (I am a strong believer in feeling special on and around birthdays, which works out well with the desire to make every dessert in each of the 7 cookbooks I own). This week’s challenge: a cheesecake (other desserts so far this year include brownies and an ice cream cake). When pressed to be more descriptive, the student said, “I don’t know, like with fruit or something?” (This immediately gets me thinking, “WOOO!!! the possibilities are endless! Think of all the things I could do!” And then eventually I have to restrain myself and actually pick something so I decided to go with strawberry cheeecake).

I love cheesecake and find it to be one of those desserts that I can eat obscenely large amounts of without breaking a sweat or slowing down at any point (I personally do not buy into the whole “It’s too rich” argument, as this has never seemed to be a problem for me). It’s therefore probably best to make it for large gatherings because then there really is no way for me to eat too much. This recipe is even more dangerous because thanks to the addition of a liberal dose of lemon juice, the sweetness of the condensed milk and the richness of the cream cheese are not as aggressive as some people claim they are in other cheesecake recipes (not that this has ever bothered me, as I said. . .)

Spoiler alert: you need a springform pan for this, and if you, unlike me, have not seen fit to buy everything in the “baking needs” aisle, you will certainly need to acquire this to make a cheesecake without encountering almost certain disaster pertaining to your crust and filling.

Crust (graham cracker)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (really melted, not just soft. . .)
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (this amounts to approximately one of the 3 sleeves that come in a typical package of graham crackers—just throw them in the food processor/blender and press, “annihilate” or whatever clever verb the company has come up with to describe what happens next)
You can also add some sugar (white or brown) or some spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, something else tasty and ridiculous, just to make everything exciting)

Making the crust:

Preheat the over to 325°F. Lightly brush the bottom and sides of your springform pan with 1 Tablespoon of the butter (and please don’t bother measuring. . . it’s just “not that serious” as they say).

Mix together the cookie crumbs and butter in a bowl (I favor using the fingers for this part of the process) until the cookie crumbs are evenly drenched in buttery goodness. (If you don’t find the process of discovering what exactly is in all of your favorite desserts, this may not be the time to start making cheesecakes).
Press the cookie crumbs evenly into the bottom of the pan (just the bottom, not the sides) and bake until the crust is firm (this is about 15 minutes, and honestly, if it isn’t exact, it won’t detract from your overall enjoyment of this product). The edges of the crust should also be a little bit darker and it may not seem “firm” until it has a chance to cool on a wire rack for a little bit.

Filling:
2 packages frozen strawberries (10-12 ounces)
1 tablespoon cornstarch (or if you fail to plan ahead, 2 Tbsp flour)
¼ cup light brown sugar (unless your strawberries are pre-sweetened)
3 packages cream cheese (8 ounces each, softened by sitting on the preheated stove)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed from cute little lemons, much to the detriment of my hangnails; I imagine that bottled juice would work just fine)
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon water

Making the filling:
Get out your food processor. Combine the strawberries, cornstarch, and sugar, and blend until smooth. (You may exceed the “max liquid fill line” on certain models, but it should be okay). Pour into a sauce pan and heat until it comes to a boil (Don’t expect to see it boil like water. It mostly just looks like goopy bubbles popping gently). Let it boil for two minutes and make sure you stir. Set aside about 1/3 of this (to go in the body of the cheesecake) and put the rest in the refrigerator and save for serving.
Clean out your food processor (oh the tedium. . . sometimes the thought of doing the dishes almost stops me from baking, but it’s never quite enough, surprisingly). Put cream cheese in the processor and process until light and fluffy (never thought you’d see “fluffy” cream cheese that wasn’t “reduced-fat-we’ve-taken-out-all-the-tasty-bits-and-replaced-them-with-chemicals”? Well, here’s your chance). Gradually add the milk (and get ready to wash your hands or revisit your childhood years of walking around with sticky fingers and getting everything in your path coated in a light sticky mess). Add the lemon juice and keep on mixing. Add eggs and mix just until they are blended (no need to over do it: you don’t want air bubbles in your cheesecake).

Bring it all together!
Pour half the cream cheese mixture over the somewhat cooled crust. Take a teaspoon and drop bits of the strawberry mixture all over (about half of the reserved portion). Pour over the other half of the cream cheese mixture (I got a little confused at this step because it seemed to push all the strawberry stuff aside, but I think that is part of the point, and if not, well I screwed up and I don’t particularly care—it turns out that upon closer reading, something I tend to avoid when baking, the recipe says, “spoon carefully” vs. pour. Oh, well. Do what you like). Drop the remaining strawberry mixture by teaspoon-ful all over the top (if it doesn’t look pretty yet, don’t panic! That part comes next).
Now for the fun part! Get out a knife and cut back and forth through the top layer so that you create nice little strawberry stripes that look remarkably like the fancy cheesecake you buy at the store. . .
Bake at 300°F for 45-50 minutes until the center is almost set (this part is especially confusing, because it doesn’t really look “set” but if you jiggle the pan back and forth a bit, it should move a little bit but not create waves like a swimming pool). You don’t want to overbake it because it gets this weird cooked cream cheese flavor that is not completely aligned with your actual end goal.
Once it’s done baking, let it cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes then run a knife along the outside edge so as it cools and shrinks a bit the inside doesn’t get stuck to the pan. Refrigerate “overnight” (if you are making this for immediate consumption, refrigerate for as long as possible before serving). Cheesecake keeps really well in the refrigerator if you cover it, so if you are one of the lucky few who is baking for yourself exclusively AND has self control, don’t worry about eating it right away). Use the rest of the strawberry sauce to pour over the cheesecake when you serve it.
Don’t forget to congratulate yourself on making a pretty pattern in your cheesecake. Guaranteed to blow everyone’s mind.