Old-fashioned cheesecake without all the trappings

[diners]

Whether you fill it with ricotta, farmer or goat cheese, cheese curd, mascarpone or cream cheese, the smooth taste is iconic.





THE HAPPY childhood goes like this: My mother unwraps the silver boxes of cream cheese as if they are presents. She beats the soft cheese -- the crack of eggs, a dust-storm of sugar -- into pale snowbanks in the bowl while she lets me crush the graham crackers with a hammer. I sneak a few butter-laced crumbs and, later, watch the cooling cheesecake with that wistful ache children can have about certain foods. Such moments, repeated through the years, transform simple favorites into profound emblems.

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