Maybe blogging is making me crazy because last night  I woke up after midnight worried that I’d left the sugar out of my cheesecake.

 With Ahmadijead wielding nukes, the US economy heading into freefall and Syria self destructing is this  a reason to loose sleep?

Instead of saying Tikun Hatzos, the  prayer for the redemption uttered by the most pious during late night hours, I went back to sleep but Hashem was kind. My cheesecake was okay.

And that is a very good thing because I baked it to honor my son’s 19th birthday. Once upon a time, I used to be a regular cheesecake baker but that was before my cholestrol spiked. Now I save the cheesecake which is techincally a custard, for special occassions.

The recipe   comes from my dear sister in law Rochelle who used to bake these cheesecakes for gourmet shops. Like any good cheesecake it’s creamy and tangy and velvety soft and sweet all at the same time.

Rochelle’s Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 350 F or 175 C.

In a food processor, grind 10 tea biscuits into crumbs. ( If you bag the biscuits and clobber them with a rolling pin you may release pent up frustrations but you’ll end up with uneven crumbs–not so pretty)

Melt 1/4 cup (one bar) of butter

Combine the biscuits and the butter and press them onto the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan–this is your crust.

Whip 2 egg whites until firm (never, ever use egg whites that had previously been frozen unless you want to spend an hour waiting for them to puff into meringue–that’s what I did, proof that I’m going a little meshugah)

Reserve beaten  egg whites

In a mixer combine 2 cups of sour cream , one cup cream cheese, 2 egg yolks , one tablespoon of lemon juice (fresh)

Beat until smooth

Then add one packet of instant vanilla pudding (I used Osem) and 1/4 cup sugar

Gently fold in the egg whites

Spread this mixture on top of the crumb crust and bake for 1/2 an hour at 350 or 175 C.

Delicious and freezes well.