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Don Y[_3_] Don Y[_3_] is offline
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Default Cheesecake, Not Don Y's 5 hour

On 5/18/2016 8:10 AM, HerHusband wrote:
Yet another huge time sink in preparation...
and mere gulpseconds to see it all disappear!


Since I cook most of our meals, that's one of the things that always
annoys me. I can spend hours making a meal or dessert, but it only takes
a few minutes to eat it. That just seems wrong somehow.


I do most of the meal prep here, as well (unless we're "fending for
ourselves"). But, SWMBO is a slow eater and I can eat standing *at*
the stove (i.e., barely dirty a plate). I'll have eaten and cleaned
up the kitchen before she finishes!

[Some folks live to eat; I eat to live. How many calories do I need
to keep the engine running?]

those same folks see nothing wrong with shoveling it down in one day!


Cookies are my weakness. Sweet, chewy, and easy to grab. I always eat way
too many in a day when I make cookies.


Sugar and fat -- two things that we seldom encountered together on the
evolutionary path. Two things that our bodies seem to want to binge on
out of fear they may never encounter it, again! :

I make fairly large batches of cookies. I.e., the smallest batch I
make would be pecan sandies (around 17 dozen). Some of the more
ethnic cookies I'll make 100 dozen at a time. But, almost always as
giveaways or for some special event (though SWMBO will eat pecan sandies
out of the freezer -- they're actually very good, frozen! Like little
chips of butter!)

I'm pretty good at making vs. nibbling. Biggest offender is pizzelles
as its not uncommon to make a "bad" one (cosmetically). Those get
consumed hot off the iron.

[Actually, if you consider them "cookies", that's a small batch as well;
usually just 6 dozen as that's 2 hours standing in one place]

Unfortunately, they take a lot more time (I am obsessed with time).


A lot of prepackaged foods take almost as much time as made from scratch
foods. Sometimes we receive brownie or soup mixes in gift baskets. By the
time you measure everything out, add the eggs, oil, and whatever you
could have made it from scratch just as quickly.


Yeah, I can't see what they "save you". I *guess* you could have powdered
eggs and powdered milk (ick!). Oil to provide the fat in lieu of butter
(another ick -- I don't use oil *in* anything and consider butter to be
a sacred food! : ).

But, invariably, it's "liquid ingredients plus sugar; then add dry".
How long does it take to measure out a few dry ingredients and prepackage
them in a box?

E.g., for brownies, that would be flour, salt and baking powder. *Maybe*
include the sugar as well. But, what about the eggs, butter, and chocolate
(the last two of which need to be liquid)? Vanilla? Sour cream? Nuts?
I just don't see that you end up saving anything -- but *do* end up
"sacrificing" something!

For something like pecan sandies, so much of the mix is butter that I
can't see how you could make anything approaching that quality without
USING butter.

It tastes better and I
know what's going into it. Lord only knows what they stick in those
packaged mixes.


We used to make pancakes "out of a box" -- just add milk. But,
pancakes are so nondescript...

I have to consider, carefully, who I'm "targeting" for the treat.


My mother-in-law doesn't have any teeth and can't/won't wear her
dentures. She also has medical conditions that limit her diet. Trying to
find things she can eat is nearly impossible.


In my case, I have a growing number of diabetic friends. It's hard to
find substitutes for sugar -- that aren't ALSO carbohydrates!

E.g., I can reformulate most of my ice cream Rx's to eliminate *most*
of the carbs -- at some cost to taste and mouthfeel. But, there's no
real way to replace the sugar in a cookie -- that doesn't introduce
another carb in its place!

So, it's almost always ice cream that accompanies me to one of their
events. And, a non-fruit flavor, at that (most of the fruit flavors
carry additional sugars with the fruits). E.g., butter pecan is a
favorite (quarter pound of butter in the mix -- in addition to all that
heavy cream! X-, )

I asked why it was called "Box Cake", she laughed: "Cuz its the
(only) cake that I make from a (premixed) BOX!"


My wife makes and decorates cakes often. She makes her own buttercream
frosting, but just uses the cake from boxes.

I don't like cake anyway, but the cake mixes do seem to produce a lighter
cake than anything I've tried making from scratch. Mine always come out
dense and heavy. I'm probably using the wrong flour.


I think the box mixes have extra leavening agents and tend not to use the
heavier fats (butter, sour cream, etc.).

The only cake I make is a "jewish coffee cake". Definitely denser than
the air puddings that come out of a box. But, I use a lot of sour cream
to help keep it light and moist.

Buttercream frosting tastes OK, but we're just talking about sweetened
fat. A few bites is all I can handle.


Yes. The appeal of the "chocolate BOX cake" I had in my youth was that
you had a fair amount of cake (air pudding) with a thin veneer of fat/sugar.
Proportions are important.

Sort of like everyone has a different sense of "proper proportions" for
a PB&J -- some folks are heavy on the PB; others on the J. Get outside
that "zone" and it's not worth eating! :

My wife also loves carrot cake with massive amounts of cream cheese
frosting. Definitely not my thing.


My preferred fat is butter. I.e., the idea of a bagel with cream cheese
just seems like a cruel thing to do to a bagel -- before throwing it away!

OTOH, I use "(vegetable) shortening" in my cavatelli; butter just wouldn't
fare well. And, margarine in the pizzelles (but in nothing else!) as butter
burns too easily.