It's CHEESECAKE season!!

 For the last 10 years or so, we've been in charge of putting on a big Christmas banquet our church.  It's a big event (we feed about 250+ each year), and every fall, I love trying out new recipes to figure out what we'll prepare for this year's banquet.  That's especially true for the desserts--my favorite part of the meal!  I try out desserts on my customers when they come to my workshops, and I think they're always more than willing to help me out!!
I'm a total recipe junkie--I scour through oodles of magazines, I browse cookbooks, and I look all over the internet.  One of my FAVORITE places to get good recipes is from Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes books and website.  Both of these cheesecakes, White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake and Pumpkin Cheesecake, which I made for my Christmas Card Sampler class last night, come from Top Secret Recipes.  They're both knock-offs of Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes, and they both were really YUMMY!!  You can get the recipes from the Top Secret Recipes books or by buying the recipes individually off of his website, www.topsecretrecipes.com.  They're usually 99 cents each.  I'd type them here for you, but cheesecake recipes are awfully long! 

I've found that the secret to good cheesecake is letting your cream cheese soften to room temperature and baking your cheesecake in a water bath (you wrap foil around your springform pan so the water doesn't get in) and set the pan inside another pan filled with 1/2 to 1" water.  I also line my pans with parchment paper (sides and bottom) so that they come out easily.

If you want to help me sample some yummy desserts, sign up for my upcoming classes. . .restaurant-quality desserts at no extra cost!