Mini Speculoos Cheesecakes

I swear I saw a stranger from a former life on my crosstown bus tonight.

It was appropriate, I suppose, considering the rest of my evening. It’s always been important to me to have intense people to call upon at all hours of the evening, friends who will force me to think and discuss. It’s always been important, but even moreso now that my daily bread is won by writing. Now, when I can spend hours and hours in front of a computer screen without ever looking up and participating in the world around me.

A writer is only as good as the stories he tells, and a writer’s stories are only as interesting as the life he leads. As a surgeon makes a point of memorizing the major arteries, as a chef makes a point of familiarizing himself with the food choices and trends around him, I must make a point of living my life.

I forget, until I get back here and see him again, see New York through the tinted glasses he eased onto the bridge of my nose nearly five years ago, how much of what I love about New York came from him: the Prep. One night spent the way we used to, the television on as little more than background noise to our long, persistent conversations about nothing at all brings everything back, and as I wander these streets, it’s as though the lights have changed. The director has called “action,” and I see New York the way I used to when we were still in love.

It’s in this New York that I can find the perfection in tiny moments like this, in discovering the poignancy of seeing a face that used to be familiar to me, a name that I’d forgotten I ever knew until I saw him and remembered. He doesn’t remember me… there’s no reason for him to. He was the Golden Boy, a boy I never would have spoken to had it not been for one night at prep school orientation, eight years ago now. I don’t feel old enough to reminisce about eight years ago, but there it is. We got off at the same stop: he walked east, I walked west. I didn’t look back… there was no reason to. But I laughed out loud to myself as I walked up Madison Avenue at night, shivering in the coat I borrowed from my younger self before leaving this evening, as I did so many times it came to be routine so many years ago.

Abbey’s Cheesecake

An oldie but a goodie, this cheesecake recipe comes from a Daring Baker’s challenge from last year, but it’s still my favorite. I sub speculoos for graham crackers and use crème fraîche in place of heavy cream. For mini-cheesecakes, make them in a muffin pan, and bake 20 minutes before resting for an hour.

Crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake Filling:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.