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Classic Baked Cheesecake
I’ve tried many different kinds of cheesecakes and this is my favorite — simple but rich, creamy and soft but firm and not too airy. It’s delicious on its own, but if you have fresh fruit, cut it up and layer it on — it tastes great with strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, raspberries or melon.
I made this cheesecake for my daughter’s recent 8th grade graduation party (it’s one of her favorite desserts) and many of the guests were incredulous that I had actually made it myself — I’m hoping because it looked so good — but probably because prepared cheesecakes are so common and there is a perception that cheesecakes are somewhat labor-intensive to make. I must admit I am a bit of a snob about cheesecakes. I used to love prepared cheesecakes but after making it myself once, I realized that homemade cheesecake is incomparably superior to commercially-prepared cheesecake in taste and texture. And this recipe is pretty easy to make, including the crust. Homemade crust is critical.
I use a springform pan and here’s the easy part: you prepare the crust on the bottom only. I have tried some recipes where you have to press the graham cracker crust up the sides of a pie pan — way too hard because there is never enough crust so the sides and bottom are too thin and fall apart. If you put more crust on the sides, the bottom is too thin. Frustrating; I always felt like an idiot, mismanaging crust like that, but now in retrospect I realize it was simply not enough crust. Also, cheesecake deserves a cake pan. It’s not cheese pie, is it? Seriously, I didn’t make cheesecake for many years because of that crust problem. My life improved tremendously after buying a $5 springform pan.
With this recipe, you simply press the crust onto the bottom of the pan; it is super-easy to do that, and the crust is thick and supports the cake sufficiently (and it’s loaded with butter and tastes amazing…) This is adapted from a recipe by Kraft Foods, although any brands of cream cheese and graham crackers will work.
- Graham Crackers - 1 1/2 cups, crumbs (about 14 full cracker sheets; I used a processor to crumb them)
- Sugar - 3 Tblsp. and 1 cup
- Butter - 3 Tblsp., melted
- Cream Cheese - 4 8-oz packages at room temperature
- Vanilla - 1 tsp.
- Eggs - 4
- Use a springform pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees for a silver pan; 300 degrees for a dark pan.
- In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs and 3 Tblsp. sugar. Add melted butter and blend well.
- Press graham cracker crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan. (No crust on the sides. Also, you do not need to grease the pan at all.)
- In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Even though it was at room temperature, this was a bit rough at first with my hand blender.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on the lowest speed possible (my hand blender was challenged by the cream cheese so I used medium speed.) The cream cheese mixture will become much softer and easier to handle with each egg, but don’t over blend.
- Pour mixture into the pan, over the crust. Smooth out.
- Bake about 5o minutes, or until center is almost set. The sides should be a medium brown color.
- Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Unlatch the pan and let it sit for a bit and then put it in the fridge and let it cool for at least 4 hours. Overnight is fine.
Serving tips and comments:
- The middle collapses a bit as it cools but still looks and tastes great.
- To serve, I remove the sides of the pan but leave the cake on the bottom piece and place it on a nice serving dish.
- Serves about 16.
- If there are any leftovers, store in fridge.
Tags: cheese, graham crackers
