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An update since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, late-2021
My
cheesecake baking took a big hiatus in 2020—and continued through
most of 2021. The last time I baked a cheesecake before this long break was
probably in late December of 2019 or sometime in January of 2020. The reason
for this stoppage was a breakout of a worldwide pandemic called COVID-19,
or the coronavirus. This extremely infamous disease resulted in massive
disruptions, including cancellations of numerous events at which I would
normally serve my well-appreciated dessert. Even when such events
resumed—or other events somehow continued on—there remained
restrictions that still hindered my bringing these cheesecakes. And I was
reluctant to make a whole cheesecake to be eaten by myself only (too many
calories on my own!).
With the upcoming Rosh HaShanah lunch in early September of 2021 at my
cousin Joanne's place marking my first time eating there since Thanksgiving
of 2019, I finally baked my very first cheesecake in nearly
20 months—Chocolate, Prototype 24.
How good it was to get back, at long
last, into making my sweet specialty this side of COVID-19! This "Head
of the Year" meal at her house would include my "Head of the
(hopefully) Post-COVID Era" cheesecakes.
During this extensive down time, I made a decision to implement a small
change, largely out of simplification, to my "cheese base". This
would now consist of equal amounts of cottage, Neufchatel and yogurt
cheeses (no other closely-related changes, such as adjusting the amount of
xanthan gum—but for which I would end up having rubbery regrets
here—would be made). Among other things, this resulted in using
one whole 16-ounce container of cottage cheese, unlike the past, when I
used one and a half containers of this for a single recipe—which
meant putting a half-used container back in the refrigerator, for some
other (hopefully near-future!) purpose. Under this latest modification,
yogurt cheese would remain at 16 ounces, but Neufchatel would be doubled,
from 8 to 16 ounces. The aforementioned chocolate prototype, rather than a
plain one, would be the debut cheesecake for this new
formulation. |
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