My middle child, Jake, is gluten intolerant. We spent part of Mother’s Day weekend with him and I volunteered to bring a dessert (natch!) for dinner with him and his wife and her parents. Cheesecake is always a good bet, so I went on the hunt for gluten-free graham crackers. I found some at the regular grocery store made by a company with a name that sings: Kinnikinnick. Isn’t that part of an old song? I also stirred up a blueberry sauce-my son’s favorite-for a garnish.

I have dozens of cheesecake recipes, but while I was in the store, I just got the ingredients for the recipe on the box of crumbs. (Love the convenience.) We all were pleased with the results, although I thought the cake was just a bit grainy. After I expressed this, Jake insisted on taking the rest of it off my hands. So good of him!

But I was sorry that I followed the instructions about the crust. Why? Because I have a springform pan with a nonstick coating. The recipe said to grease the pan, then use parchment paper for the bottom and sides. It was overkill. I think a light greasing would have been plenty and the parchment paper left odd bumps in the crust, so it wasn’t even and it was difficult to press it up the sides. Lesson learned.
Also, I overcooked it a bit, waiting for the middle to rise. So this was not the world’s prettiest cheesecake, but it was tasty, which is what counts, unless you’re hoping for a pretty picture.

Ingredients for crust
1 1/2 cups GF or regular graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 TBS melted butter
Directions for crust
Combine the three ingredients and mix well.
Grease the bottom of a 9 inch springform pam.
Line the pan with parchment paper.
Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and two inches up the side of the pan.
Refrigerate for one hour.

Ingredients for filling
2 pkgs cream cheese, softened (8 oz each)
3/4 cup sugar
3 TBS lemon peel
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup ricotta chees
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs, room temp.
Directions for Filling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Put the first three ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
Add sour cream, ricotta, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until combined.
Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one.
Pour filling into crust.
Place pan on a baking sheet.
Bake, uncovered, for an hour or until set. (I baked an extra ten minutes because my cheesecake had a dip in the middle. It poufed up after the extra minutes.)
Cool cheesecake.
Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or longer.
Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the crust before serving.
Serve with blueberry sauce or berries of choice.

Ingredients for sauce
4 cups frozen or fresh blueberries
2 TBS corn starch
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 TBS lemon juice

Directions for sauce
Mix the corn starch and cold water together.
Pour berries in a medium sized sauce pan.
Add sugar, juice and corn starch mixture.
Heat on medium, stirring occasionally, about ten minutes.
Let cool. Keep in the fridge until you need the sauce.

Throughout the evening, we were trying to introduce my four-year old Cockapoo, Zoe-the-dog, to his one year old Boxer, Sugar. Sugar was far more interested in playing than Zoe and because she was also three times bigger than Zoe, it made for some frustrating moments. Finally, Jake got down on the floor and coaxed Zoe to snuggle with him and then introduced Sugar without her aggressive paws. We had a moment of peace – but just a moment.