Day of Rest - JACKIE's Citrus Zest CHEESECAKE

It's another chance for your hairy knuckled neanderthal host to take a day of rest, as my wife Jackie shares her sainted Grandmother's recipe for cheesecake...

You may recall when I was bragging about my recent cake decorating success that I mentioned my wife has a few chops in the baking department. Here she is (to the left) with a recent wedding cake she made for friends (love is lovelier the second time around... And she is is good luck, as all her cake couples are still married)!

Here's the finished product (above) we took over to our neighbors house on Halloween. Once the kiddies are done trick or treating, the adults in the neighborhood without kids at home gather in Tom and Lucia's back yard for a weenie roast and a chance to bitch about the state of children these days... dag gum em' little whippersnappers ought to be more polite... Dad gum em', back in my day, my pa would have tanned my hide, and that's the trouble with kids today, dad gum em'

But I digress, here's what she did...

Everything by scratch, this girl... First the crust...

mash up 1 and 1/2 cups cinnamon graham crackers...
add 2 tablespoons sugar (add another 2 tablespoons if using plain graham crackers)
add 2 tablespoons very softened butter

Mix well
She has those fancy spring sided cake pans, which she sprayed with a spray canola oil.

Then she mushed the graham cracker things into the bottom, but she has a tip...

Use the bottom of a flat measuring cup to get a flat even layer.

Bake this crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow it to cool, while you...

Start mixing the goop of the cake...

20 ounces (2 and 1/2 packages) of softened Cream Cheese
1 cup sugar added gradually as it mixes on slow in MY (we started fighting over ownership) beloved Kitchenaid mixer
also add 1 tsp grated lemon peal
and 1 tsp grated orange peal
and finally, three eggs one at a time

Mix well...
And then pour into the cooled baked crust bottom

"Be happy in our work"

Gloop, Gloop

Then bake at 300 degrees for one hour...

Then let it cool in the fridge for at least three hours.

Next, spread 1 cup of sour cream around the top...

Remove from the fancy springform pans

Make homemade whipped cream from heavy cream, perform a miracle and get it to come out of the can like my wife claims she did while I was napping.

Add lemon and orange zest...

And if you love your husband, add even more zest cause that's the way he likes it. That makes up for trying to pull the canned whipped topping gag on me when I was sleeping.

Tah TaTa TAAAA

Let those young whippersnapper neer'do wells eat their snickers and Candy Corn... I get cheesecake!

And you can get cheesecake too... or at least more pie and cake recipes from my wife if you leave a comment of encouragement. Cause I deserve more days of rest!

And tomorrow, I'll blog the recipe for what I took to the party... Needless to say, Dave and Jackie will be welcome anytime!