I love cheesecake , I mean who doesn't? Its right up there with creme brulee !! So when Frederic and I were in the USA in October I took him to The Cheescake Factory in fact it was the first thing we did after picking up the rental car ! He fell in love at first bite with cheesecake...of course. When we came back to France I promised to make him some.Prior to coming to France I rarely made desserts, but I married a man with a wicked sweet tooth so I've been making cakes and cupcakes and custards and creme brulee of course! Much to my surprise there is no such thing as cream cheese in France. I know that is hard to believe considering they have enough different kinds of cheese here that you could eat a different cheese every day for a year and never repeat a selection. So the hunt was on for a replacement for cream cheese. Now I know you can make cheesecake with Ricotta as well, but I wanted to find a useable substitute for cream cheese. We made a little trip to Portsmouth UK early in December and of course stopped into a grocery store. I'm one of those people who has to go to the grocery store no matter where I am, just to see what they have going on in the store. Sure enough there was Philadelphia cream cheese. I immediately bought 5 containers and some molasses sugar. I have no idea what molasses sugar is but I couldnt find molasses in France either and was trying to make gingerbread so I bought some. Anyway about the cream cheese, its made in Belgium, which is next to France and for some reason you can buy it in the UK and not in France.
So I made a cheesecake with speculous ( who came up with that name for a cookie really ? ) as a crust ( no graham crackers or vanilla wafers in France ladies and gentlemen !). Then began the hunt for a suitable replacement for cream cheese. I think I have found the cheese finally and I made a cake this week, but it came out a bit dry, so I need to adjust something before I pass on the recipe.
In the meantime........I'm going a little trip to Malaga, Spain and Gibralter and Tangier, Morocco....maybe I will find some grocery stores. I'm planning on eating fried sardines on a stick in Spain and couscous in Morocco for sure. Im also planning on getting a page of stamps in my passport !!
p.s. Happy Birthday fellow Aquarians !
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