Recipe Scrapbook Home Bran Buddy / HiFi Buddy Bars Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Chocolate Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars Prototype 1 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Banana Prototype 1 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Lemon Prototypes 1 & 2 Orange Prototype 1 Pumpkin Prototype 1 (plus Balls variation) HiFi Buddy Balls Orange Prototype 1 Chocolate Prototype 1 (plus Orange-Chocolate variation) Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototypes 1 & 2 Maple Prototype 1 Eggnog Prototype 1 Pancakes Eggnog Pancake Batter Notes Trader Joe's Mix Latkes Spicy Latkes Matzah Pizza Stack Basic Crust Bran Buds Pie Crust Pies Chilled Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chilled Pumpkin Eggnog Prototype 1 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Eggnog Notes Additional Eggnog Notes Cheesecakes Chocolate Prototype 10.1 Prototype 10.2 Prototype 10.3 Prototype 10.4 Prototype 10.5 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Prototype 26 Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Prototype 26 Prototype 27 Prototype 28 Prototype 29 Prototype 30 Prototype 31 Prototype 32 Prototype 33 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Maple Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Lemon Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Orange Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Plain Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Eggnog Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Cookies+Creme Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Chocolate Eggnog Prototype 1 Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Orange Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 S'mores Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Whoopie Pie Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Marshmallow Prototype 1 Cherry Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Dulce De Leche Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 3 Strawberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Almond Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Strawberry Prototype 1 Chocolate Almond Prototype 1 Neapolitan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Triple-Plus Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Blueberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Patriotic Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Cheesecake Tips Pecan Pie Filling Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Additional Notes Name Change: Bran to HiFi Birthday Gift Replacement of Bran Buds with Regular All-Bran Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2015) Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2017) Update Since COVID-19 (Late-2021) All Recipes & Notes Red Velvet Research Project Preliminary Secondary My 1980's Cheesecake Prototypes Pitfalls to avoid: Unsuccessful recipes

Baked Cherry Cheesecake—Prototype 6:   The Beams were relocating, and Living Hope Church decided to have a send-off meal in their honor. So I sought input from them, including Bonnie—who had been one of our pastors—and her husband Jeff, in regard to a cheesecake flavor. Jeff expressed a particular interest in cherry, which I had done back around the late 1980's. I had yet to make my first cherry prototype in the 21st century. This meant coming up with a starting cherry prototype number for these more recent times. After checking my late-1980's cherry prototypes (under the names "Prototype 13", "Prototype 14", "Prototype 16", "Prototype 17" and "Prototype 18"), I decided to go with number 6. However, I avoided using Kool-Aid mix. Rather than use that product from my earlier era, I sought something more natural. Cherry butter, an ingredient which was used in my chocolate cherry HiFi Buddy bars before I got more into my 21st century cheesecakes, was my first choice, but I more recently could not find any. I ended up settling for preserves—but I would have to come up with some thickness strategies. One of them would involve an installment approach, which I have previously used on cookie type cheesecakes.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 16 ounces (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 8 oz. (1 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Carefully wrap the pan in heavy foil afterwards (do not wrap it earlier—otherwise, this increases leakage risks). Batter: 4 tablespoons melted or softened butter 1 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup arrowroot 5 cups (40 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 teaspoons vanilla 13 oz. cherry preserves—if pits are (or might) be present, try to filter them out through a strainer (also, see comments below) 2 teaspoons xanthan gum 4 eggs Expect almost 8 cups of the resulting batter, but do not add this to the pan all at once. Rather, this needs to be done in four installments (this is so that the cheesecake can be baked long enough to help get it reasonably firm, yet without overcooking its top surface). For each of these four installments, gently scoop about 1 3/4 to 2 cups of batter into the pan. After adding an installment, bake the pan with its contents for 15 minutes, at 325 degrees. For the first three installments here, bake with the pan in a tub filled with at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch of boiling water, but (to reduce spillage risks) do not fill the tub all the way at this point, because the whole tub-and-pan assembly is going to need to be removed from the oven (in order to comfortably add more batter to the pan) between installments. For the fourth (and final) installment, fill up the tub more generously (or nearly full) with boiling water. After all this is done, there should be 60 minutes of baking time, at 325 degrees, reached at this point (15 minutes for each of these four installments). Now, with the cheesecake remaining in the oven, reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and continue baking this cheesecake for another 75 minutes (based upon usage of a 9 1/2" pan). Then cool it down while it is still in the oven (with this oven shut off) and in the tub with the oven's door slightly ajar for 60 minutes. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down in pan at room temperature for another 2 hours, then remove from pan and refrigerate. It was probably at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods where I got cherry butter in the past, but this time around I couldn't find it. After looking into alternatives, I finally picked up, at Whole Foods, a 13-ounce jar of Bonne Maman cherry preserves—a "gourmet-looking" product from France—and used that for this prototype. The top of the cheesecake had some cracks in it. While not ideal, this seemed to be an encouraging sign to me that the batter would not end up being too soft, an issue that I had with my first two pecan cheesecake prototypes. And, after finally slicing this cherry cheesecake, it looked like my thickness efforts had paid off—this prototype came out sufficiently firm! That was the good news. Unfortunately, I could hardly pick up the cherry flavor. If only I could still get that cherry butter (without too much effort) like I used to in the past! Another issue had to do with the type of meal served at the church. Nearly every time we had a community-style meal following Sunday services, it was "potluck style"—i.e., people would bring in their own foods to enjoy and to share with others. Of course, I would nearly always bring cheesecakes on such occasions. However, it was decided that the meal in honor of the Beam family would be a more formal, "host provision-oriented" one—where the supplying of the food, including dessert, was left solely to the church. So I was caught off-guard on that one (particularly in light of the fact that we had a send-off cookout the prior year for the MacKay couple, yet attendees were encouraged to bring, at least, their own desserts). The "official" desserts included a beautiful-looking double-layer sheet cake from a local independent grocer—Henry's, of North Beverly—and ice cream. (The only other Sunday community meal that I could recall as solely-church-provided at Living Hope was a rice-and-beans supper during last year's Lent, in order to give the guests a "taste" of what it was like to live in an underdeveloped or "Third World" country.) Therefore, I held back on this cheesecake until everyone seemed to get a reasonable chance to enjoy the more formal desserts. I then offered, in somewhat subdued fashion, my cherry prototype for interested individuals who still had room in their stomachs. Not much of my dessert ended up being taken. It seemed that some guests each took a little bit to bring home for later. Well over half of this cheesecake was left, and I took that back home with me. But I did not get stuck with having to finish it all off. I only ate a little more, and the rest of it was brought to The Home Depot for my coworkers to enjoy.   Baked Cherry Cheesecake—Prototype 7:   Alright, I normally have not been doing this kind of thing lately, but for this prototype I gave in and used Kool-Aid mix, artificial flavoring and all. But this was simply because I felt that the cherry preserves approach was not going to work out to my satisfaction, and I could not readily find cherry butter, which was really my first choice. At least the preparation would be simpler for this latest cherry cheesecake.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 16 ounces (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 8 oz. (1 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Carefully wrap the pan in heavy foil afterwards (do not wrap it earlier—otherwise, this increases leakage risks). Batter: 4 tablespoons melted or softened butter 7/16 cup (3/8 cup + 1 tablespoon) Cherry Kool-Aid (pre-sweetened) mix (about the same amount of mix that would be needed as if to make 1 quart of the drink itself, but do NOT rely on the package's enclosed scoop) 1 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons arrowroot 5 cups (40 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 teaspoons vanilla 4 eggs Wrap the pan in foil at this point. Carefully pour the batter over the crust and bake this cheesecake in a hot water tub at 300 degrees for 105 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then shut off oven and cool cheesecake down while still in it (and in tub), with door slightly ajar, for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another 105 minutes, then remove from pan and refrigerate. What a bright, red look with a bright, cherry taste! I hardly had a problem picking up this flavor, and it did not overwhelm the cheese presence either. As I anticipated, the firmness was decent as well. If only I could attain this same outcome with an all-natural version of Kool-Aid! This prototype was gone in about 45 minutes at Living Hope, having been served among a relatively small snack selection. The turnout at this church seemed somewhat on the low side as well for that Sunday.