Help! How much cream cheese? (ingredients, cake recipe, sugar, baking)

[FrankInPhilly]

My mom had a terrific recipe for cheesecake. I hadn't used it in years, and when I tried to a few days ago I got flummoxed by this ingredient:
2 large and 1 small pkgs. cream cheese

Apparently, the recipe was written back in the day when Philadelphia Cream Cheese came in 2 sizes. The only size I see in any store I've been to recently is 8 oz.

So my question is: what do you think large and small are, in ounces? I'm guessing 16 and 8, but am hoping that there are some People of a Certain Age out there who might be able to remove the guesswork.

Here are the other ingredients (minus the crust). They might give some sense of proportion, etc.:

• 3 tbsp flour
• pinch salt
• 1.5 cups + 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 pint sour cream
• 6 eggs
• "vanilla" (no mention of how much)

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[Missy2U]

Based on other cheesecake recipes I've made and the other ingredients you listed, I'm going to say 2 large and 1 small = 2 8oz. packages, 1 4oz. package. My mom and best friend agree (my mom loves to eat them, my best friend likes to make them).

[eureka1]

I recall the small squares as being 3 oz.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by FrankInPhilly

Apparently, the recipe was written back in the day when Philadelphia Cream Cheese came in 2 sizes. The only size I see in any store I've been to recently is 8 oz.

So my question is: what do you think large and small are, in ounces?

Large is 8 oz., small is 3 oz. You want a total of 19 oz. of cream cheese.

[Lodestar]

I second Missy2U. It used to come in 4 oz. sizes but I'm not sure if it does anymore.

I would avoid the whipped product for baking because you're paying for air so you can't tell the exact amount of cheese you are getting.

Oh, those old recipes that were passed from friend to friend! I remember my mom calling me one day and asking, "What's a nickel-sized chocolate bar?"

Edit: I stand corrected about the three oz. size.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

If it is an older recipe, the large is 8 ounces and the small 4 ounces. If the small is 3 ounces today, I haven't noticed, but I will believe it without checking.

Vanilla will be 1 teaspoon. Vanilla can also be to taste. Some people want a more pronounced vanilla taste, but 1teaspoon would be standard for that amount of cream cheese.

Veering off topic, I have an excellent old recipe for fudge that calls for mixing it in a yellow bowl. That flummoxes young cooks who can't understand why the bowl has to be yellow. Makes me giggle behind my hand.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

........ "What's a nickel-sized chocolate bar?"........

Candy bars have shrunk so badly, that you probably can't buy a nickel size chocolate bar any more. Three Musketeers, costing a nickel, used to advertise that it was big enough for three friends to share. Later on, that size of Three Musketeers could still be bought for a dollar, but I don't think that size is still available. A dollar bar is now about 1/3 that size.

I think you'd have to research how much a bar of chocolate used to weigh and go from there. The individual bars are now much smaller, but I don't know how much they used to weigh.

[FrankInPhilly]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

If it is an older recipe, the large is 8 ounces and the small 4 ounces. If the small is 3 ounces today, I haven't noticed, but I will believe it without checking.

Vanilla will be 1 teaspoon. Vanilla can also be to taste. Some people want a more pronounced vanilla taste, but 1teaspoon would be standard for that amount of cream cheese.

Veering off topic, I have an excellent old recipe for fudge that calls for mixing it in a yellow bowl. That flummoxes young cooks who can't understand why the bowl has to be yellow. Makes me giggle behind my hand.

Yes, I should have mentioned this in the original post - the recipe is old, c. 1970's.

Sort of makes sense, given the supersizing of everything these days, that yesterday's "large" (8 oz) would be today's "normal" (the same 8 oz. that was the only size I could find).

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful (and prompt) suggestions!

[BloggerAnna]

Originally Posted by FrankInPhilly

My mom had a terrific recipe for cheesecake. I hadn't used it in years, and when I tried to a few days ago I got flummoxed by this ingredient:
2 large and 1 small pkgs. cream cheese

Apparently, the recipe was written back in the day when Philadelphia Cream Cheese came in 2 sizes. The only size I see in any store I've been to recently is 8 oz.

So my question is: what do you think large and small are, in ounces? I'm guessing 16 and 8, but am hoping that there are some People of a Certain Age out there who might be able to remove the guesswork.

Here are the other ingredients (minus the crust). They might give some sense of proportion, etc.:

• 3 tbsp flour
• pinch salt
• 1.5 cups + 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 pint sour cream
• 6 eggs
• "vanilla" (no mention of how much)

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

If you're absolutely set on using this recipe, a few things I can suggest are:

- use three 8 oz Philly Cream Cheese packages
- lightly beat the 6 eggs before adding it to the batter last (this minimizes overbeating the batter)
- go 'head and use a tbsp of vanilla

Good luck!

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

If it is an older recipe, the large is 8 ounces and the small 4 ounces. If the small is 3 ounces today, I haven't noticed, but I will believe it without checking.

Vanilla will be 1 teaspoon. Vanilla can also be to taste. Some people want a more pronounced vanilla taste, but 1teaspoon would be standard for that amount of cream cheese.

Veering off topic, I have an excellent old recipe for fudge that calls for mixing it in a yellow bowl. That flummoxes young cooks who can't understand why the bowl has to be yellow. Makes me giggle behind my hand.

The yellow mixing bowl was the large one. There were four colors and four sizes in the set. I can't remember the brand. I had my mom's yellow bowl until a few years ago...when some inebriated sod knocked it off the counter. I miss the yellow bowl.