Greek Yogurt Coconut Not-Cheesecake

It seems that today is my birthday, I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but here we are. It's also Father's Day. Yup, that's right, every few years my father has the pleasure of sharing "his day" with my birthday. He's ecstatic :).

The last time this occurred was in 2007. I remember it vividly because my father had decided that he was going to do some laundry that morning. It was quite early, I was up eating breakfast but almost everyone else was sleeping. My brother had a friend staying over who had a cross country flight later that morning and who had arrived late the previous night. Suddenly an extremely loud crash could be heard as a laundry basket was flung from the top of a stair case to the floor beneath it. When we questioned my father as to why he would do something like that so early, especially when people were sleeping, his reply was:

"It's my day, I'll do what I want."

And I have yet to stop making fun of him :).

Greek Yogurt Not-Cheesecake

I missed the greek yogurt fervor of recent years. There was a point where nearly every baking blog that I followed was raving about it and its use. I was intrigued, but never got around to purchsing some for myself. Besides, I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. I mean, I enjoy yogurt just fine; it's great for a quick snack. But come on, yogurt is yogurt. Right?

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Last weekend during a visit to my parents' place, I noticed a container of berry greek yogurt at the back of the fridge. It had been opened, but looked a tad neglected. Always late to the party, I figured this would be my opportunity to give it a try. My first taste was nothing short of earth shattering. Well, as earth shattering as eating yogurt can be. It changed my entire perspective on yogurt. All others seemed to pale in comparison.

It was thick. Really thick. And super smooth and creamy with this wonderful tangy flavour. I think I ate half the container. And then my mind started to wander and wonder how I could eat in ways other than with a spoon. For some reason I imagined it on a bagel, like cream cheese only lighter, smoother and creamier. And then it dawned on me: Cheesecake

White Chocolate Cheesecake w/Cranberry Sauce

Saturday was the 30th birthday party of one of my closest friends. A few weeks ago an email was sent out listing what food people were bringing. The last line of this message was “Adam – Desserts.” Wait. What? Desserts? The whole thing? I had offered to bring something, but everything!? Wuh oh. After a week or so I had pretty much decided on what I was bringing: Fancy Snickers, Peanut Butter cookies but the request of cheesecake had me baffled. I just didn't know what kind. This cheesecake became my most stressful baking venture so far. It wasn't until the night before that I had the base flavour chosen, and not until the morning of the party that I had decided on the topping.

Cheesecake Pie w/Blueberry Sauce

I love cheesecake. I remember as a very young kid it was one of those desserts that was distinctly “adult.” Cheesecake was the dessert I would always get when we went out for dinner. My dad did too. Maybe I even started eating cheesecake to emulate him, but I kept eating cheesecake because it's so good. And in my opinion given a standard cheesecake, blueberry is king.

My mother makes the best cheesecake ever. If you ask her she'll tell you that it's just the Kraft recipe and it's nothing special. I beg to differ. When she makes it's just better. And when she makes cheesecake she goes all out making at least two different toppings; blueberry and likely a strawberry. This is one of the wonderful things about cheesecake, you can make a standard cake and then switch up the flavours by simply changing the toppings.

One of my favourite cheesecake memories was my birthday party circa 1998. A day that has forever been known as “Shindig '98.” I had a bunch of friends over and my mother had already outdone herself with the amount of food she made for us. If you could eat it with your fingers, we were eating it with our fingers :). However, the highlight was my mother surprising me with not one but TWO cheesecakes. A blueberry cheesecake and a frozen chocolate coffee cheesecake. I'll never forget how good they were. I love cheesecake.