I have been making this cheesecake for 25+ years, Mooney (my grandma) found this recipe on the side of a Duncan Hines cake mix box back in the 70’s and it was passed down from her to my mom, then on to me, through the family and beyond. Everyone who makes it raves about it, it always turns out beautifully and it tastes so good, it is always moist, and it is a favorite in this household. I make it for our Christmas Eve family gathering every year and many other times throughout the year. We don’t just save this one for Christmas, it’s way too good. 🙂

I just found out something very interesting about this recipe about 2 weeks ago.  As I mentioned in another Blog entry, my Aunt Carole just sent me Mooney’s old Better Homes cookbook, copyright 1942…

Well, stuck inside of this cookbook (along with many other old recipes) was the original recipe for this cheesecake; Mooney had cut it off of the side of a Duncan Hines Yellow cake mix box…Wow!! What a find!! 🙂

As the recipe has been passed along in the family, we’ve done a little tweaking.  For one thing, I didn’t realize that there was supposed to be lemon juice in the cake…haha…and we’ve always topped it with blueberries (I do switch the topping out if I know that someone likes another fruit topping better than blueberries).

Here is the recipe that I’ve always used:

Anyway, the recipe is pretty self explanatory, but I’ll quickly show you the steps that I take to make this dreamy cake…

The first thing to do is to grease a 13×9 baking dish…

 Then reserve 1 cup of the cake mix (it will be used in the body of the cake), and pour the rest of the cake mix into the mixing bowl–to it add 1 egg and 2 Tablespoons of oil.  When mixed, it will make a soft crust, carefully spread it into the bottom of the baking dish.

After that, mix all other ingredients together making the milk and vanilla the last two ingredients added.  When everything is blended, the batter will seem “thin” but have no fear, it will turn out to be light and fluffy and yummy!

Place it into the pre-heated 300 degree oven; I cooked mine for exactly 48 minutes…

And it came out perfectly fluffy and wonderful…I waited until it was completely cool and then I poured the blueberry pie filling all over the top.

You can be sure that I *will* be having a piece (or two) of this luscious cake in a few days. 🙂 This is definitely one of my tried and true recipes, one that seems and is so easy to make and *bonus*, it tastes great every single time.

Until next time, may peace be your gift at Christmas and throughout the rest of the year. ❤

~Arlynn ❤