Cream cheese is a weakness, especially the Philly style that you can slather on fresh onion bagels. With the missus busy with her glass, I realized there was a tub of cream cheese waiting for its bagels. with time running out, I decided to bite the sugar bullet.
Me and sweets, especially cakes are poles apart. I excuse myself at the ubiquitous birthday celebrations at work citing a dislike of commercial butter cream. At home however, temptations rule, especially cheesy ones.
The time also coincided with breaking open the second of four havarti's - this one flavoured with cracked pepper.
To prevent any further digression, lets talk about the cream cheese. The tub sized quantity and late night work was all I needed to try my hand at a cheese cake recipe. 11pm is probably not the right time to hunt for ingredients. You pretty much pick what you have. Here's a basic recipe that I used
For the base
1 packet of biscuits - the plain ones. Marie are the best, but I made do with the missus' tea biscuits
2tbsp melted butter
For the filling
The tub of cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp coffee liqueur
Method
Crush the biscuits into a rough powder and mix in the butter to form a rough mixture. Press this into a spring form cake pan. Bake at 180C for 10mts. Remove and cool till base reaches room temperature
Mix the cream cheese and milk together to loosen the cheese. whip on low setting till the mixture takes on the consistency of a semi solid batter. Add in the sugar slowly and continue whipping till all is dissolved. Add the eggs and liqueur and beat to a smooth mixture. Pour this over the base and bake at 150C for 40mts or till the centre of the mix is firm to touch. Refrigerate for a couple of hours and eat cold - a cheese cake at room temperature is just awful tasting.
The tasting session the next morning elicited wide eyes from the missus, always a good sign for the husband.
