I won’t lie and pretend that I wasn’t ready for school to start again tomorrow but, man, it was a great summer! Fantastic one indeed!

A few days staying in a cabin right by Glimpse Lake. No internet. No TV. No phone. Just a surreal and priceless lake scenery. Families, friends, kids sharing life on life. And then friends from everywhere flew over to visit us. Tons of dinner parties, staying-overs, get-togethers… There was not one single second that my house was not noisy, thanks to those 600 crazy kids and another few adults who were shamelessly chatting and yelling and bitching around as what we call “catch-up”. The moment when my house was silent, it was because we went out to beaches, parks, Science World, movies, golfing, soccer, baseball… Simply non-stop!

To be honest, it was quite exhausting. Driving, cooking, clean-up, kids fights… But also a lot of drinking, talking, laughing, crying… We had such great fun and memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything!

Ingredients (8-inch cake):
Crust
2 1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumb
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Filling
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon espresso powder
2 packs 8-ounce cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
Chocolate Ganache
100 grams dark chocolate, cut into small chunks
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350F. Grease an 8-inch spring form pan.
Make the crust by mixing all the crust ingredients together in a food processor or with a fork.
Press the mixture onto the bottom of the spring form pan. Bake crust for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Turn down oven temperature to 300F.
To prepare filling, warm heavy cream in microwave. Add espresso powder and stir to dissolve completely. Let cool to room temperature.
Beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar on medium speed until smooth in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Then add eggs, one at a time, and mix until well blended. Mix in the espresso mixture.
Pour the filling over the cooled crust. Tap the pan on counter a few times to release all the air in the batter. Bake for an hour, or until the edge of the cheesecake is puffed but the center is still wobbly and wet looking.
Turn off the oven with the door slightly opened, let the cheesecake sit in the oven to cool completely, at least an hour.
Chill for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
To prepare ganache, place the chocolate, heavy cream and corn syrup in a medium heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir the mixture using a wooden spoon until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly.
Pour ganache over the top of the cake. Use an offset spatula to gently push the ganache to the sides to create an even layer.
Chill in refrigerator. Leave it in room temperature for 15 minutes to soften the ganache before serving.