I believe that the first thing you need to know about cheesecake is that there are many variations. Some of the more famous include Lind'ys Cheesecake, New York Cheesecake, Hollywood Cheesecake. Lindy's, if I recall, has a bit of orange zest added to the custard, while the Hollywood version has a topping of sweetened sour cream, with vanilla. My favorite is New York Cheesecake. I use a 10 inch springform pan for mine, and so have to half-again the recipe. It comes out so very creamy and delicious. It's the only version my eldest son will eat. Here's the recipe, adapted from a cheesecake cookbook I own.
Original New York Cheesecake
Dense, rich, and yummy. This cheesecake is my favorite. My whole family loves it. Here’s the recipe.
Ingrediants:
For the crust:
1 ½ cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
6 tbs. Butter
2 tbs. Sugar
For the Filling:
2 lbs. Cream cheese
¾ cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
2 tbs. Cornstarch
1 cup Sour Cream
Preheat the oven to 450’ F.
Combine the crust ingrediants and press into the sides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Place the crust into your freezer for 15 minutes.
Soften the cream cheese in your microwave (Don’t over do it; the cream cheese must be warm, not hot.) and place into a large bowl. Cream in the sugar until everything is smooth. Beat in the remaining ingrediants until all is well blended, smooth and creamy.
Remove the crust from the freezer and pour in the filling. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 200’ F. And bake for an additional 35 minutes. Turn off the heat and crack the oven door. Let the cheesecake cool with the oven for 2 to 3 hours. This will help prevent the custard from cracking.
For a firmer cheesecake, bake at 200’ F. For 45 minutes. My favorite topping on cheesecake is sour cream that has been sweetened with sugar or Sucralose. But you can put virtually any fruit pie filling on top that you want. Cheesecake goes great with apple, pineapple, strawberry, blueberry, cherry, even banana cream. It’s all good.
If you want to get real tricky, line the springform pan with parchment paper and omit the crust. Cook the cheescake, remove the pan sides when all is cool. Then bake your crust. Fill the crust when done with chocolate or maple fudge, or firm fruit-filling and allow to cool. Then place the cheesecake custard on top. You could make this red, white and blue by using strawberries on the bottom, followed by cheesecake, and finally blueberries on top.
Seeeeeeya;Chief Longwind of the North