A Farewell to Chocolate.

As the Lenten season begins I've made the choice to give up chocolate for the next forty days. Yes it will be difficult, yes I'm already feeling a sense of emptiness and regret... and yes it is only day one. Uhhh, this might be harder then I thought.

Although I'm not giving up all sweets, chocolate is near and dear to my heart. When I bake I pretty much always want to make something with chocolate. I want need chocolate every day. It's a real problem.

However, I see this chocolate free period as a great opportunity to work on baking those healthy-ish treats I've been talking about for some time now. While chocolate has been in the picture I've had no reason to cheapen my baking experience with healthy alternatives.

We enjoyed this deliciously creamy cheesecake on Valentine's day. I definitely redeemed myself after the red-velvet fiasco.

Super Creamy Cheesecake

Adapted from this highly rated recipe on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 15 graham crackers, crushed
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press onto bottom of springform pan.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving.