Covid Got Me Cooking (Baking Rather) A Success Story

Forgive me for not offering happy holidays or a regularly scheduled thought or post over the last several months, but as you might imagine, things around here aren't quite like they used to be. That's for obvious reasons and both good and bad.

If you are a human, you too have been dealing with the reality of this thing called a pandemic.

While I do wish the best for all who are reading this, I always feel that way, but just haven't really found the motivation to write or address anything at length since our column stopped due to publication halting.

Today, I found something that was fun for me and I wanted to share it. If you know me, I don't bake, nor do I eat/like cheesecake. But most of my family does. I took a stab at it this Christmas and here's how it went...the following is a review I 'attempted' to leave on the website where I found the recipe:

I do not eat cheesecake, I am not a baker, but one of my daughters was home for Christmas and she LOVES cheesecake. I always wanted to try fresh cranberries in something so this was what I made. I honestly cannot believe it came out so good! I did visit another site briefly for 'what not to do' a little too late in the process and realized I'd already over mixed.

Follow the instructions, mix slowly with your beater. Otherwise, I did amazing! I recommend looking up mistakes. I DID NOT DO A WATER BATH like the other site said to. I trusted this recipe. I am glad I did! I'm thrilled with the outcome.

By the way, I used a smaller pan (using a brand new Pampered Chef one - because I always wanted to make a cheesecake for someone in my family who loves cheesecake) and I made the entire recipe the same as in the directions, did NOT fill the pan all the way and ditched the rest of the batter.

I'm telling you, aside from over mixing because that made the center softer than normal (the 1/3 of the edges had better consistency) this was delicious and tasted as it should! I would try it even if you are a beginner!

I made this in a gas oven (totally prefer gas over electric-offers more of an accurate cook time result and even cooking distribution), while making Christmas dinner, watching a football game on my laptop. If I can do it, so can you!

(Additional notes: cheesecake was refrigerated overnight but wasn't planned, it made a difference most likely since the center was softer than it was supposed to be, at least it wasn't soupy, it was not burnt, barely a couple of cracks, I really didn't exactly time it on its own timer because I had so many things going at once but I think it was approximately on target with the recommended cook time, did not stick to the pan and I did NOT grease it as other site suggested. Cranberries are fresh and done the way this recipe suggested.)

DELISH! If you have a dream to try something new, like bake or cook something you've never done before, go for it! This was to die for. HINT: don't get worked up about it, just do it and relax. If it doesn't come out have something on hand for a backup. It made a difference as I was in the kitchen talking to myself -yep I do a lot of that- telling myself it's an experiment and if it doesn't work out it's not a big deal.

Have any questions, let me know.

Want to know what else I tried cooking since Covid? Email me at familymatterswithamber@gmail.com

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