Alright, as with any salsa, the golden rule is: The riper your ingredients, the better your salsa. (Shop local. Hit your farmers’ market. Grow your own!) You guys know the deal.

Be sure to pick the plumpest, juiciest looking peaches and tomatoes you can get your paws on. A good, ripe peach should be mouthwateringly fragrant and really smell like a peach when you sniff it.

This is one of my favorite fruity salsas. The sweetness of the peaches is offset by spicy Serrano chilis, lime, cilantro, and an unexpected party guest: cool, crisp cucumber.

I don’t add a lot of additional spices to this, just a little fresh garlic and some chopped shallot (which is milder than onion). Dial the amount of chili up or down to suit your taste.

Ideally, make this a few hours ahead to let the flavors meld. The whole thing is ridiculously refreshing and delicious. It’s a great way to enjoy the flavors of summer.

If you wanted to, you could even try cooking this recipe down for a saucier salsa. (My best guess: I’d omit the cucumber, add a little sugar, then simmer for an hour or so, stirring frequently, until the mixture is reduced by about half.)

Serving ideas

Serve it with chips (try my Easy Baked Tortilla Chips Dusted with Chipotle Salt).

Use it to top grilled chicken or pork. Tuck a layer into wraps or fajitas. You can even semi-puree it and serve it as gazpacho.

The short version of the recipe goes like this

Whack up all the fruits and veggies into bite size pieces. Combine. Let sit for a few hours if you can bear to wait. Inhale. Enjoy.

Read on for more info on chopping, etc.—as well as some unabashed fruit porn.

Spicy Peach Salsa

3 cups ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced (about 4 tomatoes)
4 cups ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and diced (about 5 large peaches)
2 shallots, minced
1 English cucumber, diced (about 4 cups)
2 serrano chilis, diced
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
1 bunch cilantro, minced
1 Tbls. rice wine vinegar
kosher salt to taste

Serves 8-10

Chop, chop, chop!

Grab your tomatoes. (I’ll admit it: These are hothouse tomatoes. When I went to the market for this post, I couldn’t find a good looking, local tomato to save my life.) Give them a rinse under cold water and dry them off.

Whack them in half.

And then in quarters. Scoop out the seeds and discard. (Some people prefer to leave them in.)

Dice them up. Don’t make yourself nuts trying to get them all the same size. (After all, it’s salsa.)

Toss the tomatoes in a large bowl.

Peel your peaches.

I peel mine in a big, spiral ribbon using a paring knife.

Chunk the peaches up into bite-sized pieces.

Peel and chop the shallot. (I usually do slightly smaller pieces of the shallot.)

Slice and dice the English cucumber. I leave the peel on, but feel free to remove it.

(English cukes are those long cukes that usually come shrink-wrapped in plastic in the U.S. I like them because they’re nearly seedless. They also tend to be less bitter than regular cukes, and their skin is usually thin. If you can’t find one, you can definitely use a couple of regular old garden cucumbers. Just peel them and scoop out the seeds before you chop.)

Roughly chop the serrano chili. Now, serranos are just above jalapenos on the Scoville scale (which measures the hotness factor of different chilis). Definitely swap your chili up or down on the scale to adjust the heat.

Did you know?
A lot of the heat from chilis lives in the seeds and ribs of the chili. I like my salsa on the hot side, so I use the whole chili—ribs and seeds and all. If that’s not your thing, slice the peppers long-ways and remove the ribs and seeds before chopping. (Always wash your hands after. If you want to be extra cautious, don’t feel bad about wearing gloves.)

Chop the garlic and cilantro and toss them in, too. Add a pinch or two of kosher salt. (Go easy. You can always add more after you taste it, but you can’t get it out once you put it in.)

Add the rice wine vinegar and squeeze in the lime juice. (For extra lime-y flavor, add the lime zest to the salsa, too.)

I always tend to use a citrus reamer on the limes, because it helps you wring every last bit of juice out. (Don’t have one? Grab one on Amazon for about five bucks.)

And…mix away!

Give it a taste and add more salt if you think it needs it.

Ideally, let the salsa sit for an hour or two in the fridge to let the flavors mingle. It will get a little juicier as it sits (the salt will draw out some of the moisture from the fruit and veggies).

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Easy Baked Tortilla Chips Dusted with Spicy Chipotle Salt This is like cheating, it's so easy. In fact, it...
2. Roasted Blue Potato Wedges with Fresh Herbs This is a really simple recipe. It's a great, easy...
3. Spicy Guinness Mustard Here's how to make your very own homemade mustard with...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Alright, so you don’t eat this one.

Now, you know me: I make a lot of stuff in my kitchen. As it turns out, a lot of the stuff that you eat can also be really good for your skin.

Get some food on your face

This is the second article in my Beauty and the Feast series. (Never fear: The Hungry Mouse isn’t turning into a cosmetics blog. I just really like to play with my food.)

Today, I’m going to show you how you can make natural face cream at home, with a few pots and pans and ingredients you can find at most health food stores.

This was a really fun experiment a few months ago. I waited to post it to see how I liked it. I’ve been using it for a few months now, and I absolutely love it!

Two versions of the original recipe

I actually made two versions of this lotion:

• One with a few essential oils to use on my face
• One with perfume oil to use as a scented body lotion

I’ll show you how to make the basic recipe below, then you can doctor it up with any extra oils you like.

This recipe for Mermaid Lotion comes from Janice Cox’s fabulous book Natural Beauty at Home. Learn more about Janice Cox on her website, or snag a copy from Amazon.

Because it’s largely aloe-based, this lotion sinks into your skin quickly and absorbs well. It does a great job of moisturizing without making your skin feel greasy.

Cox’s original recipe calls for almond oil, which is a little too heavy for my combination skin. I opted for hazelnut oil instead, which is more astringent, so it tends to be better for oily and combination skin.

For the face cream, I also added a few drops of Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) essential oil and Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil—both of which are supposed to be fabulous for your skin*.

Basically, to make this cream, you simmer the seaweed for a while, strain it, stir in some aloe, then whisk in some hazelnut or almond oil until it’s emulsified. Stir in a few drops of essential oil, and you’re done! It’s that easy.

Everyone’s skin is a little different. Mess around until you find the combination of ingredients that works for you.

Tell us about the ingredients

Yep, yep. Sure thing. When you’re buying herbs, always check the Latin name to be sure you’re getting the plant that you intend. Many very different plants are commonly known by the same folk name.

• Irish Moss (Chondrus crispus)—Irish moss isn’t actually moss. It’s seaweed that’s packed with vitamins and minerals. It grows in tidal pools along the Northern Atlantic ocean. It’s highly moisturizing, and is supposed to help increase skin elasticity and also fight wrinkles. Cox recommends using powdered Irish Moss for this recipe. I used flaked, and it came out fine. (Depending on how well you strain it, you may wind up with a few flecks of seaweed in your lotion.)

• Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis)—Aloe is soothing and moisturizing.

• Hazelnut Oil (Corylus avellana)—Hazelnut oil is more astringent than most oils, which makes it a better choice for folks with oily skin. I’ve been using it for a few months, and haven’t broken out once. It actually sinks right into my skin. If you want to try using oil on your skin but are afraid of breaking out, definitely give hazelnut oil a shot. (Of course, don’t use it if you have nut allergies.)

Why make your own face lotion?

Honestly? There are a bunch of reasons. For me, the main one is that you can control exactly what you put on your skin.

And why would you want to do that?

Take this quick test: Look up your current face cream on the Cosmetics Database, an online database with a ton of safety information and research on commercially available skin care products.

The site breaks each product down by ingredient and rates it on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being worst) so you can see just how beneficial—or hazardous—for your health it is.

I was really surprised to learn that a couple of drugstore products I was using on a regular basis had ingredients that researchers had linked to all sorts of nasty side effects (organ system toxicity, hello!).

On a practical level, making your own products can be a lot cheaper than buying them, since you’re not paying for a brand name.

Oh, and of course, it’s a ton of fun to play amateur cosmetologist at home. (Sorry, I’m such a girl sometimes…)

Where to buy ingredients if you can’t find them locally

You should be able to find everything you need at a decent health food store. If not, here are a few places that you can order online. I’ve done lots of business with both of them, and highly recommend them.

I’m lucky enough to live a hop, skip, and a jump away from Artemisia Botanicals, a great herbal supply shop in Salem with some of the nicest and most knowledgeable staff you’ve ever met.

If Artemisia doesn’t have what you’re looking for, I also like Mountain Rose Herbs a lot, too.

*My official disclaimer

Alrighty, most of you know this, but I need to say it anyway:

I’m neither a licensed aromatherapist nor a trained herbalist, so all of this information is provided for entertainment purposes, and is not intended to be professional medical advice. This information isn’t meant to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease. Be sure to do your due diligence and research these ingredients on your own to see if they’ll agree with you or not. Be extra careful if you’re pregnant or nursing, have nut allergies, etc., etc. When in doubt, consult your doctor or a trained professional. Essential oils are potent and can be highly toxic in the wrong proportion, so proceed with caution.

Mermaid Lotion

Adapted from Janice Cox

1 Tbls. powdered Irish moss, or other dried seaweed
1 cup distilled water
1/4 cup aloe vera gel
2 Tbls. hazelnut oil
a few drops of essential oil or perfume oil

Yields about 1 pint of lotion

Rehydrate the Irish Moss

Grab your Irish moss.

I’ll warn you: This stuff smells like fish food. It will smell really icky until you mix the aloe into it, at which point the smell like, magically disappears. (You won’t wind up smelling like low tide, I promise.)

Put it in a 1-quart pot.

Add the water.

Give the pot a whirl to combine. Let it sit for about a half an hour to plump up.

It will go from looking like this:

To looking like this:

Simmer for about 20 minutes

When the Irish Moss is rehydrated, set the pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Bring it to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat enough so that you keep a constant simmer.

Warning: Don’t walk away from the pot, as you’ll be really, really (really, really) sorry if it boils over at this point.

As it simmers, it’ll start to thicken up and get gelatinous.

After about 20 minutes, you should wind up with a thick jelly that looks about like this. It will smell pretty awful, and at this point, you’ll probably be cursing me for stinking up your kitchen.

Keep going. Trust me.

Strain the Irish Moss jelly

Strain the Irish Moss jelly into a medium-sized bowl.

Push it through the strainer with a spatula.

Keep pushing until all you’re left with is pulp in your strainer.

Be sure to scrape off the back of the strainer.

Make the lotion

Measure out your aloe and add it to the Irish Moss mixture.

Whisk to combine.

It will turn into a thick paste that’s slightly lighter in color.

Slowly, drizzle in the hazelnut oil, whisking to incorporate it as you drizzle.

The cream will get lighter in color as the oil emulsifies.

When you’ve added all the oil, your lotion should look about like this:

Whisk in any extras

For a scented body lotion, add a few drops of your favorite perfume oil. If you’d like to add any essential oils to make a face lotion instead, do that now (remember, only a few drops). Whisk to incorporate.

And, voila! Homemade face lotion. I like to bottle my lotions in canning jars. Add a nice label and a few ribbons for a great homemade gift.

Thanks again to the fabulous Janice Cox for such a great recipe. It’s definitely one of my favorites.

I hope you enjoy it if you give it a try! Let me know how it goes!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Last year, The Angry Chef and I left Boston and migrated North, to the beautiful seaside city of Salem, Massachusetts.

We love everything about living in Salem. The sense of community. The (growing) number of our old friends who live there. The shops and the restaurants. The whole general good vibe of the place. And, of course, Halloween.

You’re going to laugh, but the only thing we miss about living in Boston is our favorite Chinese place in Southie.

We would go almost every week. The staff all knew us. (We’d walk in and Eva, the hostess, would hug me, give me a pinch, and tell me that I was getting too skinny.).

We’d order pretty much the same thing every time (horrible practice for a food blogger, I know). For me, it was an egg roll, wonton soup with plush, homemade dumplings, and spicy basil pork fried rice. For The Angry Chef, a big plate of crisp crab rangoons, juicy chicken on a stick, and General Gau’s chicken with loads of steamed white rice.

And of course, a scorpion bowl, that fruity tropical concoction that makes you want to jump in the bowl and splash around.

Since we moved, we don’t get down there nearly as often as we’d like. So, a few months back, I figured I’d try to make some General Gau’s chicken at home.

Sacrilege, I know, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. My first attempt was good enough that I decided to work on the recipe. And the final result is the recipe in this post.

What is General Gau’s Chicken?

I realized that, for something I nibbled on every week, I knew relatively little about the dish.

General Gau’s chicken, often called General Tso’s chicken, is chicken that’s been battered and fried, then coated in a fragrant, orange-y ginger sauce that’s spicy, tangy, sweet, and hot all at the same time.

It’s also one of those things that no two Chinese places seem to make exactly the same.

As it turns out, it was invented by chef Peng Chang-kuei in the 1950s. While it’s not an ancient Hunanese recipe by a long shot, it does feature Hunan flavors: hot, salty, and sweet.

Peng is actually responsible for helping to popularize Hunanese food in the U.S., when officials from the United Nations (namely Secretary of State Henry Kissenger) started to frequent his restaurant on 44th Street in New York. He sweetened the recipe to suit American tastes.

The rest, as they say, is history. Read the whole story here.

Dear Food Police: I am not a Chinese chef

I’m the first to admit it: This is General Gau’s chicken, Mouse-House style. It’s not necessarily 100% authentic, but it’s really, really good.

I also break all sorts of rules with this recipe.

I used breast meat, not thigh. I crowded the pan when I fried.

I used (*shudder*) Triple Sec. etc. And it came out great. Once you get the general idea of how to make this, you can modify it to fit your taste.

It’s a great approximation of the flavors of a good restaurant Gau—and it’s easy enough that you can make it on a weeknight.

Good enough for me.

A few notes on ingredients

This chicken gets a triple shot of orange flavor from orange juice, orange zest, and Triple Sec.

Now, the Triple Sec serves two purposes: to add orange flavor and to sweeten the dish. So, if you substitute in another type of liquor, you’ll need to increase the amount of sugar a little.

My recipe below has a good balance of spice and sweetness, leaning towards the sweet side. If that’s not your thing, cut out the sugar or omit it completely. You’ll need to monkey around with the sauce recipe a little to finetune it to your particular tastes.

General Gau’s Chicken, Mouse-House Style

Chicken
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast
2 Tbls. garlic powder
2 Tbls. powdered ginger
1/4 cup flour
canola oil, for frying

Breading
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour

Sauce
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup Triple Sec
2 Tbls. sugar
3 Tbls. rice wine vinegar
2 1/2 Tbls. fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbls. Aleppo chili flakes
1 large orange, juice and zest

Garnish
Sesame seeds
Fresh green onion, sliced
Chili flakes

Serve with steamed white rice (jasmine or basmati are really good).

Feeds about 4

Prep the chicken

Grab your chicken. I used chicken tenders. You can definitely use whole chicken breast. Get whatever’s on sale, because you’re just going to chop it up. If you prefer dark meat, use skinless chicken thighs.

Cut the chicken into small-ish pieces.

Toss them into a gallon-sized zip-top bag or a large bowl.

Toss in the ginger and garlic powder.

Seal the bag and toss to coat.

Toss in the flour. Toss to coat again. (You’re doing this in two steps to make sure the seasoning sticks to the chicken, and doesn’t get lost in any excess flour.) Set that aside for a sec.

Crack the eggs into a medium-sized bowl. Beat them ’til they’re scrambled to bits.

Put 3/4 of a cup of flour on a large plate or bowl.

You’re ready to start breading the chicken. Set out a clean plate for the chicken once it’s dipped and floured.

Take a piece of chicken.

Drop it into the beaten egg and coat it on all sides quickly.

Then drop it onto the plate of flour. Toss to coat.

Put the battered chicken on your clean plate. Repeat with the rest of the chicken until it’s all coated.

Set the chicken aside for a minute while you make the sauce and heat the oil.

Make the sauce

Put the soy sauce, Triple Sec, and sugar in a bowl.

And the rice wine vinegar. I like Marukan brand.

It comes in seasoned (with sugar, etc.) and unseasoned. Use the unseasoned for this recipe so you don’t throw off the balance of sweetness.

Toss in the fresh grated ginger and chili flakes. (I used Aleppo chili flakes. You can order them from Penzey’s.)

Add the orange zest.

Squeeze in the juice.

Whisk it up.

Give it a taste. Adjust the seasoning if you like, adding a little more soy to make it saltier, or sugar to make it sweeter. This is the basic flavor of the dish, so be sure you’re happy with it.

Set it aside while you fry the chicken.

Fry the chicken

Now, I will tell you: This is absolutely, 100% the WRONG way to fry almost everything. All conventional wisdom about frying tells you not to crowd the pan, because it will lower the temperature of the oil to the point where it will absorb into the chicken, and leave you with a greasy, soggy mess.

For some reason, this works for me. My chicken isn’t greasy and is nice and crunchy on the outside.  I think it’s because the chicken is cut into small enough pieces that they cook really quickly. If you like, however, feel free to fry your chicken in batches. I do it this way because it saves me time. (The shallow frying also saves me oil.)

Pour about a quarter inch of canola oil in a large, flat-bottomed pan. You could use peanut, too, though that’s usually more expensive.

Set it on the stove over high heat for a few minutes, until the surface of the oil starts to shimmer. While you’re waiting, set a plate next to the stove to catch the chicken when it’s cooked.

The oil is hot enough to fry when you dip a piece of chicken in and the oil starts to bubble rapidly immediately. I test this by hand, but by all means, use tongs. Oil burns are nasty things.

When the oil is hot enough, add the chicken to the pan carefully. Fry for a few minutes on one side.

When the chicken is golden brown and crunchy on the bottom, flip it all over. This happens pretty quickly, so don’t walk away from the stove. Keep the heat on high.

When the bottom is equally golden brown and crunchy, remove the chicken from the pan with a spider or large, slotted spoon.

Transfer the cooked chicken to your waiting plate.

(See? Not greasy!)

Sauce and toss the chicken

Pour out most the oil and add the chicken back to the pan. (Or, if you’d rather let the oil cool before you dispose of it, use a different, clean pan.)

Turn the heat on medium-high, and pour the sauce over the chicken.

Stir to coat. The sauce should start to bubble up rapidly, so keep tossing it. Do this gently, so you don’t knock the coating off the chicken.

Toss like this until the sauce thickens and reduces to the consistency of warm jam.

It should be thick enough that you can see the bottom of the pan as you stir.

Serve & enjoy!

Serve over steamed white rice, sprinkled with sliced green onion, sesame seeds, and a pinch of chili flakes.

(Nom, nom, nom…)

Related posts:

1. Panko & Chili Crusted Oven Fried Chicken Fingers As much as I love (love, love) fried food, this...
2. Easy Roasted Five-Spice Chicken One of my favorite weeknight chicken dishes. It's simple to...
3. Ginger and Maple Glazed Chicken Wings The humble chicken wing is so cheap—and so satisfying. (Plus,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

OK, kids: This is coffee. In solid form.

It’s been sweetened with condensed milk and booze-ified with a healthy dose of Kahlua—then rubberized into a blissful, cocktail-hour finger food thanks to the magic of gelatin.

(If you know me, you know how much I love coffee, so you can imagine how excited I was when I came across the recipe.)

Now, you have to like Jello, or Jello-like food, for this to work. If you do, you’re in for a treat.

Huge thanks to The Food Librarian for sharing their deliciousness. I tweaked her recipe, and will definitely be making them again.

(If you haven’t checked out the Food Librarian’s blog, you should. She does some amazing things with jello—not to mention other yummy stuff.)

So, years ago, I had several meals that ended with Classic American Jello Mold Torture. You know the kind I’m talking about. Those domed, gelatinous creatures swimming with fruit that seem like they should be on the table at a science fair—not in your dining room.

This is not that jello.

This jello is the short and stout cousin of Vietnamese iced coffee, that fabulous concoction of espresso and condensed milk.

This is jello that you could serve to your foodie friends. If you’re me, this is also your midnight-snack jello. And since I added a good dose of Kahlua to them, I guess they’re also kind of like Jello Jigglers for grown-ups.

This stuff is silly. This stuff is good. Go make some. You’ll see.

The short version of the recipe goes like this

Bloom the gelatin (i.e. mix it together with water) for about 10 minutes. Make some coffee. Add it to the gelatin, along with the condensed milk and Kahlua. Pour it into a pan and pop it into the fridge until it sets.

That’s it.(Really.)

Read on for step-by-step instrux of what that looks like.

Oh, be sure to get sweetened condensed milk (which is milk that’s been cooked down with sugar) NOT evaporated milk (which is unsweetened).

Drunken Coffee Jello Squares

Adapted from The Food Librarian

1/2 cup cold water
1 3/4 cups strong coffee, hot (I brewed 8 Tbls. French Roast with 2 cups water)
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
3 packets of Knox unflavored gelatin
3 Tbls. Kahlua or other coffee liquor

8-inch x 8-inch glass baking pan

Brew the coffee

Make the coffee the way you normally would at home. The goal is to wind up with 1 3/4 cups of strong coffee. For me, I used 8 Tbls. French Roast to 2 cups of water.

Make the gelatin mixture

Grab your gelatin. I used regular old, unflavored Knox gelatin. You can find this in the baking aisle of most major U.S. grocery stores.

Put the water in a large bowl.

Toss in the gelatin. (Normally, I like to measure gelatin out, since the packages can have a varying amount of gelatin in them, but I went with the Food Librarian’s directions, and it came out just fine.)

Give it a stir to mix. It should immediately start to thicken and suck up the water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. (This process is called “blooming” the gelatin. Basically, you’re rehydrating it.)

After 10 minutes, it should be rubbery but still fairly soft.

Add the hot, brewed coffee to the gelatin.

Whisk it gently (gently!!! see below…) to break up the gelatin and incorporate it with the coffee.

Pour in the condensed milk. Whisk gently to combine.

Add the Kahlua. (If you don’t fancy Kahlua, definitely swap in your favorite liquor. Anything you’d normally put in coffee should work. Amaretto, Frangelico, etc.)

Whisk to combine.

Now, I goofed here, I think. I whisked a little too vigorously, which created a lot of froth on the surface of the mixture. As the gelatin sets in the fridge, those bubbles will set on the surface. To avoid bubbly gelatin, mix gently.

Pour it into your glass pan. (No need to grease or line the pan. Jello won’t stick to glass.)

Refrigerate until set

Pop it into the fridge and refrigerate for a few hours, until set firmly. (If you do wind up with those bubbles on the surface, let it sit for about 20 minutes in the fridge, then yank it out and skim the top layer off.)

Slice, inhale, enjoy!

When your Drunken Coffee Jello Squares have set up, they should look about like this:

Slice them into squares (or cut them into shapes with little cookie cutters) and serve. The Food Librarian served them in little paper muffin cups, which sounds like a great idea to me.

Now that I have the basic method down, I think I’m going to try these next with tea! I’ll let you guys know how it goes…

Hope you guys are having a nice summer!

We’ve been spending a lot of time chasing after Miss. Penelope. I’ve also been puttering around in my herb garden, which seems to be very happy on our back porch.

Related posts:

1. Boozy Italian Coffee Infused with Chocolate Whipped Cream So, say I was *actually* mouse-sized. (I'm not saying that...
2. Frozen Chocolate Mousse OK, this started with a recipe I spotted in Cook's...
3. Drunken Cranberry Orange Compound Butter This Drunken Cranberry Orange Butter is great on baked goods...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As much as I hate to admit it, The Angry Chef and I are turning into those people who communicate with friends largely via text message.

Our good friend the Baron Von Hammer came to visit us recently, right around his birthday. That being a rather auspicious occasion, I wanted to make him something special. So naturally (and kind of embarrassingly) I sent him a text to ask him about it.

Our exchange went something like this:

Me: What is your favorite dessert, please?

The Baron: Chocolate! Or cheesecake.

Me: How would you feel about a chocolate cheesecake?

The Baron: I would love it!

When he landed in Salem, The Baron announced his arrival in kind:

The Baron: I am here! At Gulu Gulu, enjoying some fine Czech beer.

Now, Gulu has a great beer list, so we could hardly blame him. So, we harnessed up the beasts and mosied off to collect him. After poking around our favorite comic book store and kitchen shop, we headed home to catch up properly—and, of course, to feast.

Get to the cheesecake!

Yep, yep. Sorry!

SO! This cheesecake is based on a recipe by Emeril Lagasse. I made a few modifications (screwed around with the amount of sour cream and added some chocolate liquor and cocoa powder to deepen the chocolate flavor), and it came out great.

It was rich, dense, tangy—and packed with chocolate-y goodness.

Cheesecake is delicious…even when the top cracks

At this point in my life, I think I’m just one of those people who’s destined to bake cheesecakes with cracks.

I’ve tried all the tricks. Bake it with a pan of water in the oven. Let it cool in the oven with the door cracked. To no avail. My beautiful cheesecake that starts out looking like this:

Ends up looking like this by the time it’s completely cool:

Luckily, this is strictly an aesthetic problem, and doesn’t at all interfere with the out-of-this-world deliciousity that is this cheesecake. If this happens to you, just toss on some kind of yummy garnish and keep moving.

Try a handful of fresh mint leaves, sliced strawberries, whipped cream, or chocolate ganache (if you wanted to be really wicked).

Chocolate Cheesecake

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (or chocolate wafer cookie crumbs)
1 cup plus 3 Tbls. sugar
3 Tbls. butter, melted + more to grease the pan
16 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp. creme de cacao or chocolate liquor
2 Tbls. flour
1 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly

Yields one 9-inch cheesecake. Serves one, or more (about 12-16) if you feel like sharing.

Make the cookie crumb crust

Grab your chocolate graham crackers. If you can’t find them, you can totally also use chocolate wafer cookies.

Toss them in a large zip-top bag (or your food processor) and smash them to bits. I usually use a rolling pin for this, but a mallet or even a wine bottle (etc.) would also work.

You want to wind up with a fairly fine crumb, like this.

Take your butter and whack it into a few pieces. Melt it in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove over low heat.

(Mmmm, melted butter…)

Measure out your cookie crumbs and add them to the melted butter.

Toss in 3 Tablespoons of sugar.

Mix it all together until the butter and sugar are evenly distributed and all the crumbs are moist. You’re aiming for the consistency of wet sand.

Grab your springform pan.

That’s one of these jobbies, with the buckle on the side.

Grease the bottom and sides with butter.

Toss in the cookie crumb mixture.

Spread it around and press it down so that it covers the entire bottom of the pan in a fairly even layer.

Be sure to pack it down well, to help keep it from crumbling when you cut it.

Set the pan aside for a few. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. (If you’re using a dark pan like mine, bake your cheesecake at 325 degrees. If you’re using a regular silver pan, raise the heat to 350 degrees.)

Make the chocolate cheesecake filling

Melt the chocolate and set it aside. (You can do this in the microwave on high, stirring every 20 seconds or so—or in a bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove.)

Toss the cream cheese and the sour cream into the bowl of your mixer.

Add the creme de cacao and the remaining 1 cup of sugar to the bowl. Beat it together until smooth.

Toss in the cocoa powder and the flour.

Beat to incorporate.

Add the melted chocolate. Beat to incorporate.

(Resist the urge to jump in and swim around in the bowl with your mouth open.)

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each to incorporate.

You’ll wind up with a medium-thick batter that makes nice, goopy ribbons off the beater:

Bake the chocolate cheesecake

Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Smooth down the surface with a spatula or the back of a wooden spoon.

Pop it into your preheated oven and bake at 325 degrees (350 if you’re using a silver, not a dark, pan) for 60 – 70 minutes. (And if you have any magic tricks for avoiding cracks in the surface, by all means, use them. )

When it’s done, it will look cooked on the edges and *almost* set in the center.

Cool and serve

When it’s done, remove it from the oven gently.

Let it cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then run a small, sharp knife around the inside edge to loosen it up.

Let it cool completely in the pan before removing the outer rim. As your cheesecake cools, it will sink a little, and may crack on the top (see my comments earlier in this post).

Pop the cheesecake into the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight) before serving.

Slice, serve, and inhale. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Brown-Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chocolate-Shortbread Crust This cheesecake is like pumpkin pie dressed up in velvet....
2. Chocolate Cream Pie I should admit: I have a special spot in my...
3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies These brownies are dark, fudgy, and shot through with ribbons...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.