A Tale of Two Cheesecakes (with sincere apologies to Chuck Dickens)

You may or may not recall some time ago I mentioned that I had bought a box of the Carbolite cheesecake mix. You may or may not also recall that so far, with the exception of their chocolate bar (and *that* has its flaws--have you ever known anyone who isn't an extraterrestrial to be able to eat only 2 squares of chocolate???), I have been terribly disappointed with every product of theirs I have tried.

The streak remains intact.

Why anyone would shell out $11 for this mix (save in the name of research, of course... ) when they could make a FAR superior cheesecake from scratch is beyond me.

I mixed the crust and tried to spread it into the pie plate (which I had sprayed with cooking spray, rather than buttering it). It *sort of* spread. Mostly it clung to itself and followed the spatula around the pie pan. I finally beat it into submission and went on to the filling.

My nearly-five-year-old daughter helped me cube the 16oz of cream cheese needed to add to the powdered filling mix, and she poured the 3/4 cup heavy cream into the Kitchen Aid bowl, and she turned the beast on. Delighted laughter filled the kitchen as she watched the stuff go around and around in the bowl. She even pronounced it "pretty good, it's like cheesecake" when she licked the beater.

It *looks* like cheesecake (except for that crust; I don't know what it looks like but I have *never* seen a piecrust of any sort that looks quite like this does). It even mostly smells like cheesecake. But the flavor leaves something to be desired. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's just not--right. Aaah, yes... unnatural. That's the word.

I'll stick with my scratch recipe from Fran McCullough's cookbook, using 2lbs cream cheese, 4 eggs, Splenda, a little heavy cream, and vanilla extract. No crust, but who needs it? The filling's the best part anyway!


And that sure doesn't cost me $5.50 to make!