Mother Wonderful's Cheesecakes and Other Goodies: With 20 Absolutely New No-Bake Cheesecakes

By Chocolate

I recently wanted to make a Vanilla wafer cheesecake crust, didn't know exactly how many wafers would make two cups and remembered that Ms. Chanin had discussed Vanilla wafers in MOTHER WONDERFUL'S CHEESECAKES AND OTHER GOODIES. Sure enough there was the answer I was looking for: for one cup, "coarsely chopped, 20 wafers; finely chopped, 25 wafers." So I revisited this cookbook that I had not looked at in years. I believe I have every cookbook, including this writer's other one as well, on the subject of cheesecakes published since I purchased my first one, THE JOY OF CHEESECAKE. I reread most of this one and now remember why I never use it for it is by far the most unusual--as in strange-- of any I own. Chanin says here that her husband says she is bossier than God. I would add that she is more opinionated than a fundamentalist preacher and apparently more unmoveable in her certainty that she is right.

One of her many commandments is that "Thou Shalt Never Defile Thy Crusts with Graham Cracker Crumbs." She finds OPCs (other people's cheesecakes) often blighted by soggy graham cracker crumb crusts and what she calls "banal lemon-flavored batter." I bake a lemon cheesecake that I would not be embarrassed to serve to Julia Child, were she alive, and I have baked literally dozens of cheesecakes with graham cracker crusts that were not soggy. Other directions with which I disagree: Ms. Chanin instructs the baker always to use lightly salted butter for the crust. (Unsalted butter gives the crust a much better flavor and who needs more salt, anyway?) She also recommends that the ingredients do not have to be at room temperature. (Anyone who has ever tried to whip a slab of cold cream cheese knows how senseless that rule is.) Ms. Chanin, with the exception of a Passover cheesecake or two, always includes a topping, usually sour cream, but flavoring it with vanilla is a no-no. (One can not have too much vanilla in anything is my motto.) Additionally, I do not believe that Ms. Chanin gives instructions anywhere as to where to place the oven rack although she always give precise times as to when the cake will be done. (I have rarely baked a cheesecake, even using the same recipe, that was done at the same time every time.) Another commandment is that we are not to let a cheesecake cool at room temperature although she gives no reason, scientific or otherwise, as to why she feels this way. (I let mine cool a couple of hours before putting them into the refrigerator and they turn out just fine.)

Ms. Chanin does have some great ideas, however. For instance, she suggests that you cover your cheesecake in the frigerator with a cardboad round that will absorb the moisture from the cake. I cover mine with a piece of thick grocery bag cut to the right size. She also recommends covering a piece of cardboard the size of the springform pan bottom with aluminum foil and using that instead of the metal bottom when you are baking so that you can serve the cake on the cardboard if you are serving the cake away from home.

Mother Wonderful includes a lot of recipes here for baked cheesecakes-- of course there is nary a simple vanilla or lemon-flavored one to be found-- no-bake cheesecakes, lower calorie cheesecakes (why bother with a no-bake cheesecake and just eat a smaller piece of an industrial strength one) along with other cakes as well.

I tried the first one if the book, Basic Lime-Almond Cheesecake, several years ago, and I recall that it was quite tasty. I also want to try her White Chocolate Cassis Cheesecake as well.

I should not beat up on this baker too much-- with a wire wisk of course. She obviously has a great sense of humor, and the book is never, ever dull. Buy Mother Wonderful's Cheesecakes and Other Goodies: With 20 Absolutely New No-Bake Cheesecakes!