Wine Recomendation?
 

I plan on having an LC chocolate chip cheesecake for my b-day. I've always liked white wine with my cheesecake before this WOE. I used to have a white zynfandel, but that would probably be too sweet and carby now.

Can soemoen suggest a white wine that would go well with cheesecake and not have alot of carbs?

For a plain old cheesecake, I'd go with either Sauvignon Blanc (aka Fume' Blanc) or Chardonnay, one that's fairly dry and not too full-bodied. The chocolate throws things a little bit, because wine and chocolate don't generally go all that well, but if your recipe just uses chocolate chips and not an actual chocolate batter, it shouldn't really be a problem. Also, if your cheesecake recipe is really, really sweet, a dry wine won't be all that good, because you're supposed to match the sweentess of the wine to the sweetness of the food.

Or since it's your birthday, what about going with an extra sec or brut champagne?

There was an extra dry champagne I was looking at.

Now I just have to decide which cheesecake recipe to use. The mock kalua one looked good, I would just make it with the unsweetened carob chips instead of a black bottom (no sugar alcohols that way), Then again The cheesecake on here that calls for 2.5 pounds cream cheese looks good too.. a tad heavy maybe, but I love NY style dense cheesecakes :) I think almost all the mixes have sugar alcohols and a mix is never as good as homade.

If you're referring to Dana Carpender's mockahlua recipe, I can certainly endorse it, because that's what I use as a base cheesecake recipe. I usually make it with Dana's almond or hazelnut crust and leave the vanilla out for a plain vanilla cheesecake, which I top with berries and whipped cream or homemade strawberry sauce. The texture is quite dense and creamy if you're careful about how you baking it (overbaking makes it drier).

I've also had good results with a chocolate marble version, in which I dissolve 3 tbsp cocoa, 1 tbsp splenda, 1 tbsp vanilla DaVinci, and a pinch of instant coffee in 3 tbsp warm water, then mix in 1 cup of the batter. Pour the rest of the batter into the springform, then pour the chocolate batter into the springform in a wide ring and swirl gently with a spoon. I will also sometimes forget about the sugar alcohols and melt down 3 Pure Delite dark chocolate bars, spread them over the crust, and let it cool before pouring in the batter and bake it as normal. And if you're *really* not worried about sugar alcohols, a chocolate ganache topping made with Pure Delite is awfully tasty!

I should note that I usually bake at 300 instead of 325 as in the recipe, which seems to give me less trouble with cracking. It's really important to judge doneness by looking at the center of the cake rather than by the stated time, and 50 minutes at 300 is plenty for my oven. If you're at a high altitude, that probably will affect you too. Chilling time also makes a big difference -- I always chill at least overnight, and two nights is better.

Can you tell I love to mess with cheesecakes :)?

Oh, speaking of cheesecake variations, I made a savory version of this cheesecake recipe for a party we went to this evening, and it was delicious. I omitted the sugar, added a bunch of herbs to the batter, and baked it in mini-muffin tins with a crust made from ground almonds, parmesan, and rosemary. It got devoured!

I want to try your marble cheesecake at soem point.

I started thinking, Instead of the mockkalua I have some DaVincci's whicte chocolate syrup. I think what I may try is the Mock Kalua recipe (no black bottom though) with white chocolate flavoring and the unsweetened carob chips.

I rarely make things like cakes, maybe muffins. Alot of times I'll be the only one eating and I'll set rules that I can't have more then oen serving a day, or every other day. The family may have 1 or 2 pieces, but for the most part things go bad. Hopefully I'll get one of those neato food savers for xmas and that will help.

Non LC foods are the same around here though, which I'm glad about. My SO's b-day cake we had to throw over halfof it out when it molded :)

The white chocolate syrup sounds good -- I like white chocolate cheesecakes pretty well myself. My mom makes a killer white chocolate cheesecake with a bittersweet chocolate wafer crust, white chocolate chunks in the batter, and a thick chocolate shell. One of thse days I will get around to doing a decarbed version, but it involves a fair bit of time, trouble, and specialty ingredients.

As for the leftover issue, I have a DH around who's only too glad to help me out with that problem :). I try and keep us both down to a serving a day if I've been baking, but he is a cheesecake fiend! I try to save the cheesecakes for when we have friends over for dinner, which we do every 3-4 weeks, in order to cut down on the leftovers. My biggest problem is that I love to bake and try new things, and if they're sitting in the fridge, I'm going to eat them -- I'd really be happy if someone would come over and take them away after I've had one or two!

Sherry might not exactly be your "cup of tea", but dry Sherry goes well with cheesecakes and chocolate.

Karen

I decided a while back I need an LC buddy in the neigborhood. That way I can bake LC goodies such as the donuts I want to try, or cakes and cookies, and have somewhere to take the excess.

This year we are going home for holidays next weekend instead of on holiday. I promised my son we could bake, so for my mom LC cookies, then we'll make some regular to take to rest of family. If I know they are going somewhere it's fun to bake huge batches.

I havn't tried sherry, so unsure. I might give it or the champagne a try. Is cream sherry ok, or do I need to get the dry? As I am already having moderate carbs from cheesecake I am trying to keep the other areas lower :) Is it anything like marsala? I havn't tried drinking marsala, but I used it in a recipe and loved it. I was suprised it was a brown wine instead of red or white :)

Can you drink Red wine? A nice merlot is awesome with chocolate!!
Failing that, I'd so for the sauvingon Blanc as well.

Kathy