By Mid-July, and the documentation project is complete. One hundred and forty-seven recipes, documented, cross-referenced, filed in the cedar recipe box. The box is full. The fullness is the accomplishment. And the accomplishment is not mine alone — it is Carrie's and it is Ruth's (who contributed three Gullah recipes that Mama would have approved of) and it is Robert's (who built the box) and it is Mama's, whose life's work is now preserved in index cards written in two handwritings and stored in cedar and protected by the love of a family that refuses to let the woman who fed them be forgotten.
The cookbook manuscript is one hundred and eighty pages. The documentation is complete. The next step is the submission — the sending of the manuscript to publishers who may or may not see what I see: that this book is not just recipes but a memorial, not just food but a life, not just a cookbook but a love letter written in the only language the daughter had left.
Mama was quiet all week. The quiet has become her default — not the agitated quiet of early years or the traveling quiet of recent months but a stillness that suggests she has arrived somewhere, a place beyond the confusion and the wandering, a place that is not this kitchen but that is connected to this kitchen by the thread of the humming, which continues, intermittently, the last sound she reliably makes, the hymns rising from her like steam from a pot.
I made pickled okra — the July preservation project, the annual canning. I canned twelve jars. The label reads "Okra, July 2022, Naomi." One name. My name. The label has been one name for three years now, and the one-ness is no longer lonely. It is sovereign.
With the cedar box full and the manuscript complete, I wanted to bake something that named names—something that belonged to Ruth as surely as those three Gullah recipes she contributed belong to the box. This cheesecake is hers, and I make it now not as a borrowing but as a continuation, the way all preservation is a continuation: one generation receiving what another gave, and refusing to let it end there.
Aunt Ruth’s Famous Butterscotch Cheesecake
Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Total Time: 5 hours (includes chilling) | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup butterscotch chips, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup butterscotch chips, for topping
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Prepare the crust. Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar, and melted butter until the texture resembles wet sand. Press firmly into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
- Make the filling. Beat softened cream cheese on medium speed until completely smooth, about 3 minutes. Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until incorporated after each addition. Do not overmix.
- Add the butterscotch. Blend in vanilla, sour cream, salt, and the melted butterscotch chips. Stir on low speed until the batter is smooth and uniform in color.
- Bake in a water bath. Wrap the outside of the springform pan tightly with two layers of heavy-duty foil. Pour filling over the crust. Set the pan inside a larger roasting pan and pour hot water into the roasting pan until it reaches 1 inch up the sides of the springform. Bake at 325°F for 55—65 minutes, until the edges are set and the center has a slight jiggle.
- Cool slowly. Turn off the oven, crack the door, and let the cheesecake rest inside for 1 hour. Remove from the water bath, run a thin knife around the edge, and cool completely at room temperature before refrigerating at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Make the butterscotch drizzle. Combine 1/2 cup butterscotch chips and 2 tablespoons heavy cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted and smooth. Drizzle over the chilled cheesecake just before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 480 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 31g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 310mg