Cheesecake: bake it far, far away from the heating implements, especially if you have an electric oven. FAR away. And make sure you get graham cracker crust. Regular crust with cheesecake is just wrong. It's actually super easy to make, though. It's like butter, crushed graham crackers, and sugar. Easiest evar. I would suggest against tasting the filling before baking simply because the texture will be SO different. It tastes the same, yes, but it doesn't at the same time because of the texture. Trust your recipe.
Also, I'm madly in love with my new cookie sheets. They're insulated. I've been cranking out cookies that look store bought. And they fucking stay soft for a WEEK, even if I don't shut them up in a ziploc bag. So, I swear by insulated cookie sheets. And parchment paper. Fuck vegetable spray and butter. Nothing sticks to parchment paper. I've also used a splash of heavy cream instead of milk, and it seems to make the cookies even more delicious. I made all of these changes at once, so I'm not sure what the real reason is for my cookie recipe suddenly being to the point where I don't feel the need to tweak it EVER AGAIN.
Oh, and I've started using those cage free eggs that are brown, and they seem to be awesomer in general. Thicker shells, you can crack them over the bowl and not worry about shards, and the yolks are harder, making them loads easier to separate if you need to.
Random statement: before I bake or cook anything, I check food network's website to see if Alton Brown has a recipe for what I want. Because that man is a god. I have made probably fifty different things from his recipes, and they all turn out very well and need very little tweaking (if at all).
