During these days of high stress due to the increasing price of EVERYTHING, try this recipe for real comfort food.

Honey/Almond Cheesecake


This started out as a recipe in "How to Cook Forsoothly", by Mistress Katrine de Baillie du Chat. It may have changed from that form over time.

1 cup sugar
1/4 lb butter
1 lb cream cheese
1/4 cup flour, sifted
1/4 cup honey
5 eggs, separated, whites beaten stiff not dry
1/2 cup half and half
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup almonds, ground (a coffee grinder works wonders for this)
1 can gooseberry pie filling (optional) (Or any other berry filling)


Cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add cream cheese until mixture is fluffy. Blend in flour and honey. Blend in the egg yolks. Beat well. Add cream and extract. Lightly fold in egg whites. Fold in ground almonds with a few strokes. Pour into well buttered 9" springform or lined muffin tins, set on a low rack in preheated 325 oven. Bake 1 hour. Turn off heat & allow to cool in oven with door closed for one hour. Remove from pan and chill. Serve with berries (topping of your choice).


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AND yep, it'll probably cost more to make this cheesecake now than it would have a month ago.

Wow, that's one fancy bit of comfort food.

Mine is a nice bowl of Cheerios.

AND FAR TOO CALORIC...not the Cheerios, of course, CZ! Counting calories during the Christmas season is difficult, but it is something that I need to get better at.

My daughter spent some time here just before Christmas. She loves to cook, especially around holiday time. She made a Hershey Bar Cake, which was delicious. Here's her recipe:

HERSHEY BAR CAKE

1/2 lb. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
8 plain Hershey candy bars, melted in a double boiler with 2 tbsp. water
2 1/2 c. sifted cake flour
1 c. buttermilk
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. chopped nuts

1. Cream the butter and sugar; add and beat the eggs one at a time into mixture. Add the vanilla, salt, and melted Hershey bars. Add the flour and buttermilk that has been mixed with the baking soda, alternately. Fold in the nuts.
2. Bake in a greased and floured, angel food cake pan or Bundt pan, for 1 3/4 hours at 325 degrees. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when done, rather than frosting.

NOTE: This cake will keep indefinitely, and no frosting is necessary.

There are lots of hershey bar cake recipes that call for beginning with a cake mix. My mother taught me to always bake from scratch whenever possible and I've passed this advice down to my daughter.

This one is for you, Channel Zero...

WARM CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE CAKE

3/4 CUP BUTTER, CUT UP (1 1/2 STICKS)
8 OUNCES SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE, CUT UP
1 CUP SUGAR
6 LARGE EGGS, SEPARATED
2 TBS. ALL PURPOSE FLOUR, SIFTED

1. PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES F.
IN A 4 QUART SAUCEPAN, MELT BUTTER, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR OVER LOW HEAT. COOL.

2. GREASE TEN (10) 6-OUNCE RAMEKINS; DUST WITH FLOUR.

3. IN A SMALL BOWL, WITH MIXER AT HIGH SPEED, BEAT EGG YOLKS 3 MINUTES OR UNTIL THICK. IN A LARGE BOWL, WITH MIXER AT HIGH SPEED, BEAT EGG WHITES UNTIL STIFF. WHISK YOLKS INTO CHOCOLATE MIXTURE; FOLD IN WHITES AND THE FLOUR.

4. PLACE REMEKINS IN ROASTING PAN. SPOON BATTER INTO RAMEKINS. POUR BOILING WATER INTO PAN TO COME HALFWAY UP THE SIDES OF THE RAMEKINS. BAKE 40 MINUTES OR UNTIL KNIFE INSERTED NEAR EDGE COMES OUT CLEAN. INVERT TO SERVE.


Each Serving contains about 365 calories, 6 g protein, 34 g carbs, 25 g fat, 2 g fiber 167 mg cholesterol, 185 mg sodium

Reference: recipe seen in December 2002 Good Housekeeping magazine