Another cheesecake question

[AllenOK]

Ok, I've been itching to bake a cheesecake for a long time now, especially after PeppA told me that she loves cheesecake (she's only made the Jell-O No-bake mix).

Here's the recipe I used, which I got from college (thus all the weights):

Plain Cheesecake
Yields: one 10” cheesecake

Suitable crust, either short dough or graham
2 ½ # cream cheese (five 8 oz blocks)
14 oz sugar
¾ oz cornstarch
½ oz lemon zest
1 ½ t vanilla
1 t salt
8 oz eggs
3 oz egg yolks
1 c heavy cream
¼ c milk
1 T lemon juice

Grease a 10” springform pan. Line the pan with a crust of your choice, either short dough or graham. Bake until golden brown @ 350°F. When the pan comes out of the oven, lower heat to 275°F. Cream the cheese until soft. Add the sugar, cornstarch, zest, vanilla, and salt, cream until smooth. Add the eggs, mix until smooth. Add the cream and lemon juice, mix until smooth. Pour mixture into the pan. Bake @ 275°F until done, 1 ½ - 2 hours.

Now, if you read through it, there are some obvious problems with the directions. First, it doesn't mention how to make the crust at all. It also completely omits adding the milk.

I made a basic short-dough crust following the classic 3 - 2 - 1 short dough recipe, only scaled down. Here's what I used:

4 1/2 oz flour
3 oz margarine
1 1/2 oz sugar
~ 1 t whole scrambled egg (from the amount for the cheesecake batter)

I creamed the margarine and sugar, added the flour, mixed that by hand, then the egg.

First off, I realized I should have made a bigger batch of short dough. The batch I made might be good for an 8" cheesecake, but I'm making a 10". I was able to completely cover the bottom of the pan, but, I had to stretch the dough in, and when I blind-baked it, of course, it shrunk a bit.

I mixed up the batter recipe, with one major change. I added all the liquid ingredients (milk, vanilla, lemon juice, eggs) before I added the dry ingredients (sugar, cornstarch, zest, and salt). I just realized I forgot to add the cream.

I put a small pan of water on the lower shelf in the oven, to prevent the surface of the cheesecake from browning to much. I plan on shutting the oven off when the cheesecake isn't quite totally set, and cooling it in the oven.

Here's the final draft of "my" recipe. I'll have to make it again, probably a couple of times, before I tweak it.

Allen’s Cheesecake
Yields: one 10” cheesecake; 12 pieces

For the crust:
One stick (8 T, 4 oz) butter or margarine, softened
2 oz sugar
6 oz flour
A little of the scrambled egg mix from below
For the batter:
2 ½ # cream cheese (five 8 oz blocks)
4 large eggs, in all
4 egg yolks
1 c heavy cream
¼ c milk
1 T lemon juice
14 oz sugar
¾ oz cornstarch
zest of 1 lemon
1 ½ t vanilla
1 t salt

Grease a 10” springform pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Cream together the butter or margarine with the 2 oz of sugar (this will be really soft). Add the flour, and mix together by hand. Add the egg, and mix until uniform.
Line the pan with the dough, being careful not to stretch the dough out, instead, pat pieces of the dough into place. You want to completely cover the bottom of the pan, and partially up the sides of the pan. Bake until golden brown at 350°F, about 13 minutes. When the pan comes out of the oven, lower heat to 275°F.
Cream the cheese until soft. Add the eggs, mix until smooth. Add the cream, milk, vanilla, and lemon juice, mix until smooth. Scrape the bowl. Add the sugar, cornstarch, zest, and salt, and mix until smooth. Pour mixture into the pan.
Place an 8 x 8” pan with a little water onto the lower shelf of the oven. Bake the cheesecake at 275°F until done, 1 ½ - 2 hours. The cheesecake is done when you jiggle the pan, and the center hasn’t quite totally set, and jiggles independently of the outer rim of the cake. Turn the oven off, open the door slightly, and leave the cheesecake in until it’s cool, to avoid cracks.

 

[Alix]

Um Allen? While I am drooling at the recipe, I don't see a question in here. Am I missing it?

 

[AllenOK]

/me slaps forehead

D'Oh!!!

I meant to add, does anyone think the amount of eggs in "my" version sounds about right? I weighed them as I was cracking them into a bowl that I had zero'ed out. I wasn't totally accurate on the weights, as instead of 8 oz of whole eggs, I used 4 large eggs, that weighed out around 7 3/4 - 7 7/8 oz. The egg yolks were 4 egg yolks, and weighed about 2 3/4 oz.

Something else I may play with over the next few years, since I'm basically using a cookie dough for the crust, why not make a standard chocolate chip cookie dough, and use that for the crust of a chocolate chip cheesecake? Or, peanut butter cookie dough for a peanut butter cheesecake?

I almost resent getting a working oven again

 

[Alix]

The egg amount sounds about right to me, but I use whole eggs for that amount of cream cheese. So, that would make me think perhaps you need a few more? BUT, I don't use that much cream/milk in mine so maybe that evens it all out.

As for your cookie dough bottom. The chocolate chip cookie crust might work, but I am pretty sure the peanut butter cookie crust wouldn't be pretty. At least the recipe I have would end up pretty nasty. It would be soaking up the liquid before the batter could cook. Ugh.

A cookie bottom that had a lot of flavour to it might compete with the creamy goodness that is your cheesecake too. You'd have to be careful about the flavours you used so they would complement one another. I can hardly wait to hear your results.

 

[aguynamedrobert]

The eggs seem a little much to me....when I make enough for a 9 inch cheesecake I use 3 whole eggs and that is it...I think 4 eggs and 4 egg yolks might be too much and might take down the texture a little of the cheesecake....but that is my opinion...

Have you thought of doing a traditional grahm cracker crust?

Have you thought of doing a waterbath with the cheesecake pan right in the water?

Try putting a piece of parchment paper over the rack above the cheesecake...always helps me not to get the top of the cheesecake to brown...(but that depends on your oven as well)

Have a good one,
Robert
Chocolate

 

[AllenOK]

Ok, here's my results:

1 1/2 hours at 275 degrees was perfect! I shut the oven off, cracked the door, and let it sit for awhile. Then, after about an hour, I pulled it out and let it sit on the counter to continue cooling. That's when I took this:

I probably should have found my tripod and set it up, as this pic is slightly out of focus. However, you will notice that the sidewall is nicely browned, the top is slightly browned, and there are only three small cracks.

I decided to cheat, and used a can of cherry pie filling to top the cheesecake with. PeppA was very pleased when she saw this:

I was only expecting to get 12 pieces from this. I was surprised when I realized I could do a 16-cut on it. Here's the first two pieces after I plated them:

Of course, once PeppA and I ate the first piece, we both had to have another. It was yummy!

aguynamedrobert, yes, I have thought about doing a graham crust. However, I'm not really keen on them, and prefer the short dough crust.

I even thought about immersing the pan in a water bath, as you suggested. This is what I was taught in college. Instead, I used the 8 x 8" pan, and had it situated directly beneath the springform pan. There was only about hthe top of theween the top of the baking pan and the bottom of the springform pan.

 

[aguynamedrobert]

Hey Allen,
Looks good...nice job on it....
One quick tip...see how there is a ring around the cheesecake that is higher than the middle? If you do the cheesecake in a waterbath(right in the waterbath) that will protect it from doing that and you will come out with a flat cheesecake....just a heads up....
It does look good...lol...its about lunch time here and I could eat that up! lol

Robert
Chocolate

 

[goboenomo]

Wow, that looks great. I'm not a big fan of cheesecake, but now I'm feeling like a nice piece of that.