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

Changes to basic cheesecake batter composition, mid-2017   My experiencing a very delicious cheesecake from Trader Joe's back around early June of 2017 prompted me to give further consideration to overhauling the basics of my cheesecake recipes. The efforts began with Prototype 17 of my plain cheesecakes and ended with Prototype 21. Earlier in these updates I did a little tweaking with the crust. But the far more important changes throughout the updates would involve the batter. I felt that I should cut back on the tartness of the cheesecake's batter, so I replaced half of the yogurt cheese with additional cottage cheese. In other words, the cheese base's cottage-Neufchatel-yogurt ratio went from 1:1:4 to 3:1:2. It seemed like this helped enhance the taste somewhat, but I still wasn't satisfied. But the most significant change affected the stabilizer. My cheesecake history began with what has probably been the most popular stabilizer in baking—wheat-type flour. I used different kinds of this flour, such as all-purpose and whole white. As the years went by, I started bringing arrowroot on board (this stabilizer getting its debut very likely in mid-2012), earlier to supplement the wheat-based flour and later to replace it. It was probably around mid-2015 when I outright retired the wheat-based flour, so the arrowroot was on its own at that point. It seemed to have considerably more stabilization strength compared to its wheat-oriented predecessor. Recently, I tried a rather risky experiment. I made a cheesecake with no stabilizer added. That was Prototype 18. This wasn't the first time that I had done this. I also made Prototype 8 this way, and that one was exceptionally delicious. But it was also exceptionally soft. But Prototype 8 contained only yogurt cheese for the cheese base. Prototype 18, on the other hand, also contained cottage cheese and Neufchatel cheese, and these two products already had some stabilizers in them, particularly xanthan gum—an industrial staple. Fortunately, Prototype 18 was not an unstable disaster (a little sloppy, yes, but not so runny). And its taste was really terrific, pretty much like Prototype 8's and Trader Joe's. This outcome put arrowroot in the crosshairs. But what would be a superior alternative to arrowroot? I was looking for sufficient stability, but I was also in the hunt for a really great taste, just like I would enjoy with a more typical, fat-laden cheesecake. The time had come to give xanthan gum—an ingredient available for retail sale, at least in recent years from Bob's Red Mill—a try. This stabilizer has been put to extensive use in the food industry—and particularly in cream cheese (often in conjunction with guar and/or locust/carob bean gum here)! But I didn't think that xanthan gum had been embraced anywhere nearly as much in homes. Maybe one of the reasons was the difficulty in using it. I myself have incurred a number of failures in the past with this ingredient—often by using too much of what I found out the hard way to be an overwhelmingly powerful stabilizer! But how much, then, should I use? I Googled around and was led to start off small—very small—with this potent ingredient. So I carefully put xanthan gum to work in Prototype 19, and the results worked out reasonably well. The batter tasted awesome, but I wanted to tweak the stability. This adjustment, which included the amount of baking time, as well as how much xanthan gum to use, would ultimately lead up to Prototype 21, with which I would close out this basic overhaul of 2017. So the resulting basic cheesecake batter would now involve these ingredients: Cheese base (such as cottage/Neufchatel/yogurt) Xanthan gum (supplementing whatever stabilizers were already included in the cheese base ingredients) Eggs Granulated sugar Vanilla Compare and contrast the conventional list: Cream cheese (with a sufficient amount of its own stabilizers, particularly xanthan gum) Eggs Granulated sugar Vanilla Now that's very close! In early October, not long after my overhaul efforts with my plain prototypes, I furthermore decided to try an "egg-speriment" (or, "eggs-experiment") with Prototype 7 of my maple cheesecakes. I added one egg on top of what I primarily had been using for nearly the past two years, i.e., I went from five eggs to six. While "one egg for every eight ounces of cheese base" seemed to be mathematically convenient, using a half-dozen eggs per cheesecake had a couple of advantages. One would make my grocery shopping easier, because of the way eggs have been packaged—typically in multiples of six (I scarcely have been using this ingredient for any other purpose). The other would be beneficial for the cheesecake's firmness and texture. The outcome of the maple cheesecake itself was great, so I decided at this point to utilize the sixth egg on a regular basis.