Easter Sunday and Dead Tony's Cheesecake

Whne I was a teenager, my dad came hom from work one evening carrying a cheesecake topped with cling peaches and maraschino cherries that was given to him by a little old Italian gentleman named Tony who worked part time in his office.. It was the best, creamiest cheesecake I had ever eaten. Of course, I asked if I could have the recipe.

My father returned with the sad news that Tony didn't share this secret family recipe, but that he would make a cheesecake for me whenever I wanted him to. I never did ask for one, believing that it would be rude, but occasionally dad would bring one home and we all enjoyed it.

Years later, my father came home with the news that Tony had passed away, which brought a double dose of sadness - the demise of a sweet old man and the loss of the cheesecake recipe that died with him.

A few weeks later, I received an envelope in the mail which - lo and behold - contained the famous recipe. There was a note attached in Tony's handwriting saying that the recipe was being passed on to me with the request that it remain in the family.

And so, we have named it, "Dead Tony's Cheesecake" in honor of the kindly gentleman who chose to make arrangement to have it sent to me upon his death.

As each of my brothers married, I gave their new brides a copy of the recipe as a part of their wedding gift with the proviso that they hold true to the request to keep it in the family. Unfortunately, I found out that the promise has been broken, and that caused me great sadness, and I have learned a valuable lesson from that experience.

So how, you ask, does Dead Tony's Cheesecake tie in with Easter Sunday? Well, six years ago I was preparing to celebrate the first Easter after I began dating a certain guy named Mike. We had been seeing each other for about 5 months and it looked like it might be getting serious. Over dinner one evening, he asked me to join him at his home where he would be preparing Easter dinner for his daughter and his father. I knew that this was a huge step for him, and of course I accepted.

I arrived with a huge Easter basket filled with jelly beans and marshmallow peeps, Cadbury eggs and assorted Easter goodies. Nested in the center of the basket was a peach and maraschino topped Dead Tony's Cheesecake.

Mike's face was crestfallen as I explained the legend of the cheesecake. It seems that he has never eaten a homemade cheesecake that he really enjoyed - that he has always found them to be lacking - and he didn't want to hurt my feelings. Of course, he didn't tell me this until AFTER dinner was concluded.

But the reality is that he LOVED the cheesecake and it has become an Easter tradition in our household to prepare one for dessert. Oh, I forgot to mention that Mike and I are now married.

The cheesecake is cooling as we speak, as it needs to age overnight before it is topped with the peaches and cherries. I am beginning to salivate just thinking about it. An I am so please to be sharing this treat with my husband as we celebrate another Easter as a family.


o