"Sometimes Life Just Sucks" or "I Put Too Much Stock into my Baking Abilities"

Tomorrow is my mother-in-pseudo-law's birthday, so in keeping with tradition, I made her a cheesecake. Last year I made a feeble attempt at her favorite: tiramisu, and this year I've ventured to make a mash-up of sorts. A chocolate chip tiramisu cheesecake! Anyway, I gathered the ingredients, not too cheap, mind you, and set to work. Despite the simple recipe, I managed to screw it up in the following ways:

• I couldn't find lady fingers for the crust, so I used vanilla wafers which are too strongly flavored and not nearly light or crisp enough.
  


• I didn't disolve the coffee granules in the melted butter before I added them to the crust, so the crust looks like a dalmation and tastes like an old pot of stale coffee.

• I over baked the aforementioned crust because i thought, 'oh, it only needs to be in there for 8 minutes, surely i won't forget it.'
  


• I didn't scrape down the bowl enough while I was mixing, so there were big chunks of mascarpone and cream cheese collected in the bottom. that had to be tossed out.
  


• I forgot to stir in the chocolate chips. One would think that that would be a difficult step to forget, but I totally did.
  


• I consciously skipped the traditional waterbath and modified the technique by placing the broiler pan of water on the rack below the cheesecake, which resulted in a cracked and overly browned surface.
  


• And finally, I opted not to give up and will present Denise with this cheescake tomorrow evening, despite its flaws.

I'm sorry, but that thing cost me about 12 dollars just to make and I ran over my budget for the month on Monday. I have a feeling it will be delicious regardless, and if it's not, I'll throw it out myself, but I think Denise and the rest of the Gamba/Sams will love it. I really ought to pay more attention to recipes and I shouldn't assume that the first time I try a recipe it will come out perfectly. Therefore, I should test all my recipes before I plan on using them as birthday presents. Nuts.

**ADDENDUM**

Forget everything I said above. We ate it and it was divine.