Why Cook It?

Just now, as I was eating raw cheesecake batter off a spatula, it occurred to me that cheesecake batter tastes a lot like Key lime pie. And the wheels started turning, and now I want to make a Key lime pie with cream cheese in it.

It won’t be an authentic Key lime pie. Those only contain condensed milk, juice, egg yolks, and maybe–if you’re kooky–some zest, salt, and/or vanilla. And real Conchs don’t cook their pies. Only pansies do that. Citrus juice kills salmonella. Look it up.

Conchs are people from the Keys.

I’m thinking I could make a mixture of sugar and cream cheese, and I could get it to the point where it’s as sweet as condensed milk, and I could substitute it for half of the condensed milk in the recipe.

While I was running errands, I did a victory tour at Barnes & Noble. They only had one copy of my book, so I did the natural thing.

Tonight the Marsala bottle caught my eye. Can you make a cheesecake that somehow includes Marsala? Cheesecake with zabaglione would be weird, but good. Shove some strawberries in it, and you’re ready to go.