Making a new variation on my chocolate orange chocolate chip cheesecake today, this time with banana instead of orange:
I've made variations on this dozens of times, normally with either a store brand cream cheese or Philly cream cheese (depending on how much I like my guests 😅), but this time I subbed in Tillamook instead...
After warming it so it would mix well, I put the bricks in the bowl and they just seemed WET. I was seeing visible liquid at the bottom which doesn't normally happen.
After mixing, the batter seemed a lot soupier than normal. Still baking so I guess we'll see where it's at in 8 hours. I guess worst case is it will need to bake longer than the normal 8 hours.
I've posted the recipe before, but it seems cruel to mention it and not include it. You really can sub out the liqueur and extract with whatever flavor you think plays well with chocolate. Traditionally orange, but I've done Frangelico and hazelnut extract as well.
Chocolate Orange Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Makes 16 to 20 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 pounds cream cheese, room temp
2 teaspoons orange extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)
5 eggs
12 ounces mini-chocolate chips (important that you use MINI-chips)
Preheat oven to 200F. This is a low temp, slow bake cheesecake.
Spray the interior of a 2-quart souffle dish or 9-inch cheesecake pan with spray shortening and dust with 1/4 cup of the cocoa powder. Set aside. This bakes into a dark chocolate crust.
In a large bowl mix the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth and soft, scraping the sides of the bowl and spoon as necessary. If the cream cheese is too cold to mix easily, float the foil packages in a sink full of warm water for 10 to 15 minutes.
Mix in the remaining 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, vanilla and orange extracts, liqueur and eggs until the batter is well blended.
Stir in the chocolate chips. The temperature is low enough that full size chocolate chips will not melt all the way and give it a weird texture.
Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan and place in the oven.
Bake for 6 to 8 damn hours or overnight.
Cool on a rack to room temperature.
Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper and an inverted plate.
Invert. Remove the pan and refrigerate cake upside down for at least 1 hour. (If you need to leave the house, the cake can stay refrigerated all day.)
Invert a serving plate over the cheesecake and invert the cake.
Remove the top plate and the paper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Cut with a long, sharp knife dipped in warm water to prevent sticking.
Jordan's note: There is a secret to "removing the pan" when dealing with a cheesecake...
Take the pan and turn it vertically, the cake is so heavy the top edge will pull away from the edge of the pan.
Rotate the vertical pan 45 degrees and let it pull away from the edge again.
Go all the way around the pan. Now when you turn it upside down the cake will pop right out of the pan.
Not in the recipe, but I decorate the top with candy orange slices:
https://www.ohnuts.com/buy.cfm/bulk-candy/gummies-gummy-candy/orange-jelly-fruit-slices
Candy Shop - Orange Slices Candy - 1 lb Bag https://a.co/d/g5CcM15
Also why you don't re-use needles:
Oh, I can help remotely... I just need you to open Windows App.
Which app?
Windows App.
I get that, I'm running Windows, but which app?
Windows App.
Look, are you being smart? I'm in Windows, say I click on the Start button, which app do I click on?
Windows App.
Allright you, let's say the app is already running...
Sure.
And I press CTRL-ALT-DEL and open Task Manager.
OK.
WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE APP I WOULD SEE IN TASK MANAGER??!???
Windows App.
I'M ASKING YOU, 'WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE APP'???!??!??
I'm telling you, 'Windows App.'
Jack Kimble is a parody account.
https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1841151195198435344
California doesn't have a 54th district:
https://www.jackkimble.com/home
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_congressional_districts
That's literally not the definition.
https://wagetheftisacrime.com/
Don't dilute the definition of the crime with nonsense.
Boss asks everyone to come in unpaid for a mandatory meeting? That's wage theft.
They lock you in the store when you're off the clock to "clean up the store"? That's wage theft.
Stolen tips, no overtime pay for overtime work, altering timecard punches? All wage theft.
Making too much profit and not passing it to employees may be highly unethical, but it's not legally wage theft.
"if Democrats win control of the House and keep the Senate and White House."
You should have done that years ago when you had the opportunity and everyone was telling you, begging you, to do it.
Now it's too late.
"An attorney for PJ’s Construction said the developers didn’t want to hire surveyors."
Well there's your problem.
The answer here should be simple... the developers pay for demolition, removal of the house, and restore the property back to the condition where they found it.
I'm comfortable not owning Ubisoft games. ;)
Homeopathic everything should be removed from the market.
James Randi was amazing on the topic for people who don't understand the problem:
This is, surprisingly, not that unusual for vehicles in high demand. It's to prevent flipping.
GM does it on certain vehicles as well:
(the C8 Corvette Z06, GMC Hummer EV, and Cadillac Escalade-V if you want to know without clicking the link.)
This is super personal to me because it almost killed me. I've told this story on reddit, but it bears repeating:
tl;dr lost my doctors due to an insurance change 4 weeks in to a 6 week open heart surgery recovery...
In 2018, my company was in the process of being sold. No big deal, above my paygrade, nothing for me to worry about.
Then I got sick right after Thanksgiving. Really bad heartburn that lasted 5 days. It wasn't heartburn. I had a heart attack. 12/3 I had open heart surgery, single bypass, and that started a 6 week recovery clock.
On 1/1, the sale of my company closed and we officially had new owners. I also officially lost all of my doctors because the new employers don't do Kaiser in Oregon. They do it in WA and CA, but each state has to be negotiated and they never had presence here.
1/2 I start working with Aetna to find doctors, hospitals, etc. Beyond the cardiologist I need a new pharmacist, podiatrist, diabetes care and a general "doctor" doctor.
Fortunately, my new employer is a big enough fish, they have their own concierge at Aetna and she gets me into the Legacy system.
On 1/3 I start developing complications, but I don't know it at the time. It starts with a cough. All the time. Then, when I try to lay down, like to sleep, I'm drowning, literally choking and gagging.
The concierge and I try to get an appointment, we're told 2-3 months. For a dude still recovering from open heart surgery? Best they could do is 2 weeks. 1/14.
I can't lay down to sleep so I buy a travel neck pillow and sleep sitting up.
I get to see the new doctor at the "official" end of the 6 week recovery. He doesn't know me or my history so he wants to run tests.
I'm sitting at home playing video games and waiting on test results when the call comes... Congestive heart failure. Report to the ER immediately.
My heart developed an irregular heart beat, which caused fluid build up in my chest. They admitted me and were getting ready to pull fluid off me.
"What happened to your foot?"
"I dunno, what happened to my foot? I can't feel my feet."
Remember when I said I was sitting around playing video games, waiting for test results? Yeah, my foot was touching a radiator and I didn't know it. 3rd degree burns, first four toes. Pinkie was spared.
So I'm in the hospital a week. I lose 4 liters of water per day. 50 lbs. of water. No wonder I was drowning. Regular bandage changes.
So now I'm facing two procedures. Electrocardio version to fix my heart, skin grafts to fix my toes.
This whole time the new insurance covers 80% until I reach the out of pocket maximum of $6,500. Then it will cover 100%.
The old insurance? ER visit for heart attack, hospital admission, 8 days in the hospital, open heart bypass... $250.
So we hit the out of pocket maximum almost immediately. My wife had a problem with her foot running through the Seattle airport. The doctor who did her toe amputation was decided to be out of network so that was another $1,100.
I was never unemployed through all this. I had enough vacation and sick time banked to cover it. Cobra didn't apply. Buying my old insurance wasn't an option, it was far too expensive without employer backing. Income is too high for assistance (thank god) and I took steps to max out my HSA account, which is good because we drained it twice.
Three 1 week hospital stays (2 for me, 1 for my wife), multiple ER visits, two more major medical procedures... That would be enough to break most people even with good insurance.
So if you read any of that, let me ask you something... Why does the quality of my health care and my quality of life have to depend on who I work for and what insurance companies they choose to work with?
I mean, he's not wrong...