cheesecake

Friday Food – Milestone

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My middle child turned 21 last week. Of my three kids, he is the only one who gets a homemade birthday cake. The reason for this is simple: he likes cheesecake and I can make cheesecake. Baking a regular cake, frosting it in buttercream, adding doodads on the top and words in icing is something I have never been able to do well. Baking, unlike “food cooking” is a science. It has to be measured a certain way. If it says sifted, it needs to be sifted. If it says baking powder, don’t use baking soda. It can be so complicated for those of us who do not have the talent for baking. If you’re a good baker, I am envious of you. It is a phenomenal skill.

Lucky for me (and my child), my middle son loves cheesecake and I enjoy making it. It’s the simple Philly 3-step cheesecake recipe from Kraft. However, for those special milestone birthdays, I try to do something extra.

A few of them have had raspberry swirls baked in.

Some have chocolate chips on top.

Some have fresh raspberries or raspberry syrup drizzled on top.

They all have whipped cream as the finishing touch.

For his 18th birthday, I added chocolate frosting bordering the edge with raspberries in the center.

For this birthday – his 21st – I had planned a center layer of caramel with raspberries. It was a good thing I spoke to my son and found out he doesn’t really care for caramel. Time for more improvisation.

I opted for melted chocolate and raspberries. My husband surprised us when he returned from the store with Heath bits. In the end, I put the number “21” in raspberries stuck into the melted chocolate covering the cheesecake and let it set in the fridge. When it was time to serve, I sprinkled the Heath bar bits on top and voila! Happy 21st Birthday!

(c)2025
Cheesecake with chocolate layer, red raspberries, and Heath bar bits sprinkled.
(c)2025

Friday Food. October.

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Dreams do come true.

I will claim, rightly so, to be a good cook, but only a moderate baker. I almost never bake from scratch. Baking is not only an art, but also a science. You mess up one ingredient and it won’t work. Cooking is its own art, but it also lets you improvise more – a little of this, a little of that; don’t have an ingredient, substitute something completely unrelated.

A long time ago, in a kitchen far, far away, my middle son asked for cheesecake for his birthday cake. I made the Philly Three-Step, he loved it, and the rest is history. This has become a yearly tradition. Always plain with whipped cream. Occasionally with raspberries. Once with chocolate swirl. But typically, he doesn’t like it dressed up.

On Wednesday, he turned 18, and I wanted to do something special. I asked if he wanted a different birthday cake, and he wanted cheesecake. Okay, why mess with perfection?

A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream, and it was this cheesecake.

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake.
(c)2022

After we finished singing Happy Birthday, and eating the cake, I told them about my dream and they laughed at me. I don’t care. I made it happen, and it was a nice surprise and even better, it was delicious!

Recipe:

  • Make the Philly Three-Step Cheesecake as directed. (Takes 1 hr plus 3 hours refrigeration.)
  • Before serving, use one (or all) of the tips with the Betty Crocker Cupcake Icing to make a chocolate border. It can be as thin or as thick as you like.
  • Wash and dry fresh raspberries and fill in the center.
  • Serve.
  • Can also serve with whipped cream.

Friday Food: Super, Simple Super Bowl Snacks

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With New Year’s just past and the Super Bowl coming up in a few short weeks (Feb. 2), I thought I’d share some of my family’s easy to prepare foods. For New Year’s this past week, we actually cooked very little. Most of our food was simple, store-bought, easy to prepare, easy to clean up, and best of all, yummy.

1. Dip. We love the dill dip from Marzetti. It can be found in the refrigerated area of your grocery’s produce section. We like to pair it up with a variety of items to dip, including: pretzels, crackers, bread chunks, raw snow peas, raw green beans, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, potato chips. If you want to dress up your table, scoop out the insides of a round bread loaf and put the dip inside. Looks great, no clean up!

2. Hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough. You can buy these premade (we like the Hebrew National ones) or you can make them yourself. I’d recommend cutting the hot dogs in three, and cutting each crescent roll triangle in two. You get twice as many little dogs and it’s not over doughy.

3. Mini quiches or mini potato puffs. Again, you can buy these premade or make them yourself. For either of these, use a mini muffin tin. Put in a puff pastry square and add your ingredients. For quiches: eggs, cheese, onion, bacon. For potato puffs: mashed potatoes, bacon, cheese. Delicious.

4. Cheese and crackers. In addition to cheese cut in chunks, there are also cheese spreads that are very good on crackers. Add pepperoni to the platter for a little extra.

5. Dessert. Break and bake chocolate chip cookies. Brownie bites. Ice cream. Mini cheesecakes are also an excellent option. Use those mini muffin tins again. Put some crushed graham crackers in the bottom, use your favorite cheesecake recipe, add whipped cream when serving.

Birthday Cheesecake

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My son’s birthday was yesterday. He is my only child that gets a homemade birthday cake. One year he wanted pumpkin brownies for school, which weren’t too bad, but one year he asked for a cheesecake for his birthday cake.

Now, every year I offer and he accepts, and it’s his favorite. This was the first year with chocolate chips.

Yum.