Chocolate Cheesecake

Lately, MDS and I have been rewatching The Golden Girls. The show holds up amazingly well and I find myself relating to it more and more. I especially like that the ladies turn to cheesecake when they talk over their problems. In searching for Golden Girls cheesecakes, I discovered The Golden Girls Cookbook, featuring cheesecakes and cocktails. On the very first episode, the ladies enjoy a chocolate cheesecake that Rose had purchased because she has a sweet tooth. I can relate. So I adapted this recipe from the cookbook. This chocolate cheesecake is so rich and delicious. While this cheesecake does take some time and effort to make, it is worth it.

The recipe calls for using chocolate cookie crust, but I could not find plain chocolate cookies in a store, so I improvised a chocolate cookie crust that was perfect. Also, the recipe calls for using a water bath, but instead, I just put a pan of water in the oven to help prevent the cheesecake from drying out, but did not use an actual water bath. 

Chocolate Crust 

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• dash of salt
• 3/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 325.  Whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Pour in melted butter and incorporate. Press dough into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake crust about 10 minutes. Allow to cool before filling.

Chocolate Cheesecake

• prepared chocolate crust
• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Beat cream cheese, sugar, corn starch, and salt until creamy and lump free. Beat in eggs, adding eggs one at a time. Mix in warm chocolate, sour cream, and vanilla, until just blended. Scape batter into pan and gently wriggle to even out batter. Place pan in the over and lower the oven temperature to 300. Bake for about one hour and fifteen minutes, until center is slightly jiggly. Turn oven off and leave door open for 30 minutes. Cool cake to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least four hours. Enjoy!

Tuna Cheeseburgers

Tuna is a humble workhorse food. When I was a kid, we had all sorts of tuna dishes, most famously, Tuna Heroes, Tuna Noodle Casserole, or Tuna Rockefeller, among others. Canned or packet tuna is convenient and easy to keep on hand for when needed. 

For the tuna mix in this recipe, you can easily modify the quantities to your taste. I added more celery because I especially like celery in tuna recipes.

Tuna Cheeseburgers

• 7 ounces drained tuna
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small rib celery, chopped
• dash pepper
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 4 english muffins, split
• 4 slices American cheese

Mix tuna, onion, celery, pepper, and mayonnaise. Spread evenly on English muffin halves. Top with cheese and cover with remaining halves. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Blueberry Streusel Coffeecake

This recipe is a quick coffeecake that makes a delicious treat for any time of day. Although yeast coffeecakes are always delicious, this quick cake is easier to make and still delicious. The flavor combination of blueberry and cinnamon is not the most common flavor mix but works well in this coffeecake. And because summertime is blueberry season, this recipe is a great use of the easy to find blueberries.

Mom's recipe card indicates that a springform pan should be used, but I just used a 9x9 square pan, which worked fine. The recipe also called for adding nuts to the streusel topping, but I left off the nuts. When I made this recipe, I used a little more than two cups of blueberry because I wanted extra berries. 

Blueberry Streusel Coffeecake 

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Streusel topping

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Grease and flour entire pan. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar; beat in egg. Add flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add milk until dry ingredients are just moistened. Fold in blueberries. Turn into greased pan and sprinkle with topping. Bake at 375 for 45 to 50 minutes. If topping starts to brown, cover with foil.