Marble Cheesecake and Blueberry Muffins from Evelyn Stock

Evelyn Stock might be Scarsdale’s most involved resident. In her 40 years in town, she has held more positions that we can list; which were all duly recognized when she won the Scarsdale Bowl in 1997. On her resume are terms on the Scarsdale and BOCES School Boards, Scarsdale Planning Board, League of Women Voters of Scarsdale, Westchester and New York State, Scarsdale Foundation, and the Board of the Scarsdale Adult School.

When she is not volunteering, she is baking and she even taught two baking classes at the Scarsdale Adult School. Accomplished at all she does, her biscotti recipe is one of 12 finalists in the Journal News Cookie Swap, and she plans to submit her Choco-Oata recipe in next year’s Cookie Swap.

Needless to say, we were thrilled that Evelyn agreed to share two of her favorite recipes with Scarsdale10583’s readers. See below for Evelyn Stock’s Marble Cheesecake and Blueberry Muffin recipes. If you try them, let us know how they came out. And please feel free to send your favorite recipes to scarsdalecomments@gmail.com to share with your neighbors.

Marble Cheesecake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:

• ¼ lb. butter
• 2 C. finely ground crumbs from Nabisco Famous chocolate wafers
• ¼ C. sugar

Melt butter over low heat or in microwave. Combine butter with crumbs and sugar in food processer until well blended. Press mixture over bottom and up sides of an ungreased 10-inch spring form pan. (Put tin foil under the pan to protect your oven.)

Filling:

• 2 lb. cream cheese at room temperature
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 2 oz. Baker’s German sweet chocolate, melted in a double boiler over boiling water
• 1 ¼ C. sugar
• 1 T. dark rum
• 1 ½ t. vanilla extract
• ½ t. instant espresso, melted in 1 t. hot water
• Pinch of salt

Combine cheese and sugar in mixer and beat until very soft, at least 2 minutes. Add rum, vanilla and salt and mix thoroughly. Add eggs, one at a time, at low speed so as to not add to much air. Mix just until egg is incorporated. Pour mixture (reserving one cup) into the crust. Mix chocolate and coffee and add to reserved cup of batter and mix well. Pour chocolate batter into the center of the batter in pan and swirl through with a knife to marbleize. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes while you prepare the topping.

Topping:

• 2 C. sour cream
• 1 t. almond extract
• ¼ C. sugar

Combine ingredients. Spread evenly over top of baked pie and return to 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and place IMMEDIATELY in the refrigerator to cool. This will prevent cracks from marring the top of the cheesecake. Can be frozen. Serves 16.

Note: I do not always have eggs and cheese at room temperature—just bake a few minutes longer. I use extra large eggs and good semi-sweet chocolate.

Blueberry Muffins:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin tins with muffin liners.

• 1 stick butter
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 ¼ C. sugar
• ½ t. salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 ½ C plus blueberries
• ½ C. milk
• 2 t. sugar for tops (optional)
• 2 ¼ C. flour

Cream butter and sugar in mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to mixture alternately with milk. Stir in blueberries by hand. Pile mixture into liners, close to the top. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake 25-30 minutes. Let stand in pan for 3-5 minutes before serving. Makes 12 large muffins. Note: You can replace blueberries with cranberries, nuts, apples or raisins. I like to add cranberries and walnuts.