Hardware
9″ Spring form pan.
Roasting or baking pan that is larger than the spring form.
Heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Time 6 hours, day 1… 30 minutes, day 2.

These directions are written for use with a food processor. Mixing times will vary for stand or hand mixers.

Oreo Crust
25 Oreo cookies (I scrape the filling out of them)
3 tablespoons of melted butter

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Put cookie pieces into food processor. During processing, add melted butter. Process until you have finely chopped pieces. Put chopped Oreo pieces into 9″ spring form pan and use a flat bottomed, drinking glass to press and pack into pan until bottom is evenly covered. Put pan into pre-heated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Store in freezer while prepping first batch of cheese cake batter.

Chocolate Layer
24 ounces of cream cheese
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
3 eggs
6 ounces of semi-sweet or dark chocolate morsels (60-80% Cocoa)

NOTE: My food processor has a dough setting and blade which is used for this step. For my double boiler, I use a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water. All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place cream cheese into processor and process for 1 minute or until smooth. Scrape work bowl. Add sugar and vanilla, process until sugar is incorporated, approximately 1 more minute. Add eggs one at a time allowing 15 seconds in between to be fully incorporated. You will probably want to scrape the work bowl after the first egg. Melt chocolate pieces using a double boiler. Add melted chocolate to batter and process for another minute to incorporate. Pour batter into spring form pan and return to freezer for 2 hours to set up.

Caramel Sauce (prepare while chocolate layer is freezing)
1 cup of sugar
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of roasted, salted, chopped peanuts

WARNING: Melted sugar is very hot and any splatter will burn you. Also, this is not something to walk away from. The sugar burns very quickly once it gets to a boiling state.

Place sugar into a heavy pan over medium heat. Stir sugar as it is melting to keep from burning. Once sugar is completely melted stop stirring and let it come to a gentle boil (this is where it can go bad quickly). Once it begins to boil, add in butter and whisk to combine. The sauce will foam up when the butter is added, this is normal. Remove from heat once butter is melted and combined. Slowly whisk in cream, the sauce will again foam up. Allow sauce to cool to room temperature. Transfer to a glass bowl and refrigerate until chocolate layer is ready. Pour caramel sauce over chocolate layer starting in the center and working your way out. Leave about 1/2 inch on the edge. Add peanuts and return to freezer.

Peanut Butter Layer
24 ounces of cream cheese
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
3 eggs
4 ounces of creamy peanut butter

NOTE: My food processor has a dough setting and blade which is used for this step. All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Boil water (enough is needed to fill the roasting pan 3/4 the way up the spring form pan).

Place cream cheese into processor and process for 1 minute or until smooth. Scrape work bowl. Add sugar and vanilla, process until sugar is incorporated, approximately 1 more minute. Add eggs one at a time allowing 15 seconds in between to be fully incorporated. You will probably want to scrape the work bowl after the first egg. Add peanut butter and process for another minute to incorporate. Pour batter into spring form pan.

Wrap the spring form pan using the aluminum foil. We are baking this like a custard, using a water bath. Make sure there are no seems or holes in the foil. Place wrapped spring form in roasting pan. Set the roasting pan on the center oven rack. Add boiling water to roasting pan until the water level is 3/4 up the side of the spring form pan. Close oven and bake for 90 minutes.

Remove from oven and place on cooling rack for an hour to an hour and a half. Cover and put in refrigerator over night.

Chocolate Ganache (day 2)
6 ounces of semi-sweet or dark chocolate morsels (60-80% Cocoa)
2/3 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of roasted, salted, chopped peanuts

Put chocolate pieces in glass bowl. Put cream into a small sauce pan over medium heat. Heat cream until it comes to a slight boil. You need to stir the cream as it heats to keep a skin from forming. Pour the cream over the chocolate pieces and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Let cool for a couple of minutes. Pour ganache over cheese cake starting from center and working out. Spread to about 1/2 inch of edge. Add peanuts, cover and return to refrigerator to cool for at least one hour before serving.

It hardly seems possible, but as of this November ADV has been in business for fifteen very fast-paced years.  Time has flown so fast that it is easy to forget how much things have changed.  For instance, the news from November 1994 (from Wikipedia) included the following items. 

• November 4 – San Francisco: The first conference devoted entirely to the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web opens. Featured speakers include Marc Andreessen of Netscape, Mark Graham of Pandora Systems, and Ken McCarthy of E-Media.
• November 5 – A letter by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, announcing that he has Alzheimer’s disease, is released.
• November 5 – George Foreman wins the WBA and IBF World Heavyweight Championships by KO’ing Michael Moorer, becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
• November 5 – Johan Heyns, an influential Afrikaner theologian and critic of apartheid, is assassinated.
• November 7 – WXYC, the student radio station of the University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, provides the world’s first internet radio broadcast.
• November 8 – Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the United States Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections, the first time in 40 years the Republicans secure control of both houses of Congress. George W. Bush is elected Governor of Texas.
• November 13 – Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union in a referendum.
• November 13 – The first passengers travel through the Channel Tunnel.
• November 13 – Michael Schumacher wins his first Formula One World Championship.
• November 16 – A Federal judge issues a temporary restraining order, prohibiting the State of California from implementing Proposition 187, that would have denied most public services to illegal aliens.
• November 20 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol.
• November 28 – Voters in Norway decide not to join the European Union in a referendum.

This look back at the news shows just how dramatically the world has changed.  But because we are living it day to day, change seems to evolve slowly.   While skills and technology at ADV have evolved as well, the the one surviving constant is a focus on you, our client partners.  Your issues, your challenges and your opportunities have kept us  young, engaged and up-to-date.  So, this anniversary is a celebration for us but also a chance to thank our customers – both old friends and new acquaintences – for helping us survive and grow.  Thanks from all of us at ADV!

(originally written: 9/1/09)

I pulled rank and assigned myself the fun duty of exhibiting at this year’s Region 3 ALA (Association of Legal Administrators) show in St. Louis!!

There are over 10,000 worldwide members of this organization, including professionals from law firms, corporate legal departments and government legal agencies. Region 3 encompasses IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MS, ND, OH, SD, WV WI, and NB. 

In case any of you haven’t heard, the show starts on Thursday October 8^th and wraps up at the end of day on Friday the 10^th.  It will be held at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis.  If you’re going to, please stop by and say Hi!

 We’ve been a strong supporter of the Minnesota Group, MLAA, for quite a number of years now.  A core mission for MLAA is education, and I’ve certainly learned a lot through my association with this energetic group!   The importance of MLAA as a support network for the legal administrator cannot be stressed enough. The various active committees working within the organization offer resources and guidance not otherwise available to the legal administrator at the local level. The monthly meetings offer the opportunity to exchange information among the legal administrators and to hear a speaker present a topic, which assists all of us in maintaining our professionalism. Each member has experiences and attributes that are available for the asking.  You can find out more about the Minnesota group at:  http://www.mlaa-ala.org/  or the worldwide group at: http://www.alanet.org/default.aspx