Cheesecake ~ A Brainy Gourmet Dessert...

Its not that difficult to make good cheesecake at home in your own kitchen. The best and simplest recipe is the Brainy Gourmet's. You will need: two 8 oz packages of cream cheese, 3/4 sour cream, 1 can of condensed milk and two eggs.

Begin by softening the cream cheese: let set out until soft or microwave for about 25 sec without foil wrapping. Mash the cream cheese and blend in the sour cream in a large glass bowl. Next, pour in the can of condensed milk and blend again. On the side, in a separate bowl, whip two eggs until frothy and add to the cheesecake batter.

For the crust, just crush about 8 large graham crackers in a plastic zip-lock bag. Melt 3 tbs of butter in a bowl to be combined with the graham crackers. Pat down this mixture into a cheesecake 'spring' pan and pour in the cheesecake batter. Bake at 325 (pre-heated) for about 40 min or until the top of the cake springs when you giggle the pan.

If you would like to flavor your cheesecake, add to the batter either lemon or almond extract- 1 tsp more or less. Or, for something really more extraordinary, add 4 tbs of liquefied Hershey dark chocolate (cutting down on the amount of sour cream) and 1 tsp of instant espresso coffee for a delicious experience. *Note, the crust can be made using the cookie part (not cream filling) of the Oreo cookie brand.

Always serve your cheesecake with a topping of or garnish of fresh fruit...