Listen, when you're down with Covid and you've exhausted watching cartoons and crime serials, cooking is the next logical C step. I mean seriously, Toy Story 1-4, Frozen 1 & 2, Incredibles 1 & 2, Monsters Inc., Monsters University, Shrek 1-4, Forensic Files Series 1 & 2, American Monster... I knew I had to stop when I started dreaming of a CSI episode with Elsa investigating the death of the Gingerbread Man.
Taking into account a 2 week hiatus in grocery shopping and that my initial high energy levels were suddenly waning with just the THOUGHT of physical labor, the mini no-bake cheesecakes from Sally's Baking Addiction seemed like a brilliant idea. The only tweak I intended to do was a mixed berry compote for the topping. The fact that I had 6 bags of frozen mixed berries in the freezer because it had been on sale (It was a dollar off) had no impetus on my decision.
This blog is going to be raw, I am going to walk you through my unfiltered thought process, brace yourselves. I started from a place of great intent... "It's been a long time since I blogged, I'm going to make it special" I had seen videos where the opening frame was the raw ingredients, fingers were snapped and the next frame was the finished product in all its glory. I tried, and WTH??!! If they ever made the remake of Frankenstein, they could use my fingers. Those short stumps of flesh masquerading as fingers were disproportionate, like did God forget the rest of my fingers???!! Today was also the day I realized that the sound made when I snapped fingers was not a sharp click, but instead sounded like drawn out air escaping from a dying helium balloon. So, I guess we weren't going to use THAT idea.
The recipe was straight forward, a good thing because right at about Step 2, I was like "I'm tired. This is going to be a plain cheesecake with NO topping. OK, now it's not going to have a crust as well." BUT, the thought of potentially not having a decadent burst of fruity freshness, cut through with the contrast of a buttery crust spurred me on. Thank you Top Chef, it's now a pureed nut spread with a grape relish reduction, otherwise known as PB & J.
Patience is a virtue, and after a mere 3 hours of watching my chin hair grow whilst the cheesecakes chilled in the fridge, I was rewarded with mini bites of flavor explosions. Size definitely didn't matter in this case.
