I’m one of the lucky parents who hasn’t had major struggle with getting my kids to eat their vegetables. Don’t get me wrong, there are some vegetables they may not like, but they almost always eat whatever I put in front of them. But y’all have asked me about how you can get your kids to eat more veggies and after doing some research I came across the book Deceptively Delicious. Author Jessica Seinfeld, shares all kinds of yummy recipes like these applesauce muffins, that have a serving of vegetables “hidden” in them, usually in puree form. [Read more…]

I have one go to recipe that never fails, I found it in a Taste of Home cookbook a long time ago and I tweaked it just a tad. It is the most popular cheesecake that I make, all my other cheesecake recipes are basically variations of this one. I have at least 30 different cheesecake recipes that I have come up with based on this one.  Cheesecakes are really not complicated and I’m going to walk you through making one, step by step. I know this post is a bit lengthy, but once you get this basic cheesecake down, the sky is the limit. You don’t even need that many ingredients to make a basic cheesecake. See, nothing weird or fancy!

Now, before we go any further, let me tell ya – you do need a springform pan. Nothing beats a springform pan for making a cheesecake. They just aren’t right without a springform pan. They aren’t expensive and you can even find them at discount stores like TJ Maxx or Home Goods.  Look for a 9 or 10 inch pan; you can interchange the two pretty easily, a 10 inch cheesecake will bake a tad faster because it is a tad thinner and you can get a few more slices out of a 10 inch, so that’s what I prefer but use what you have. They consist of a ring and a round bottom plate that fasten together to make a round cake pan. Obviously you can’t just dump a cheesecake out upside down like you do a regular round cake, so you loosen the ring and lift it off and voila – a gorgeous cheesecake.

Ok, now back to the cheesecake. You are going to crush your graham crackers first. I put my crackers in a plastic bag and beat them with a meat mallet, it’s kind of fun. The kids always want to do this part. Just make sure you use the flat side to beat them with or you will end up with holes in your bag and crumbs everywhere.

You can put them in a food processor to do this, but personally, I am all for taking the route that creates the least dirty dishes and this is it.

So, once you get your graham crackers pounded into nice fine crumbs you will pour them out in a bowl. Measure out your sugar and cinnamon for the crust and mix them together with a fork.

Melt your butter and mix it into the crumbs.

Pour the crumb mixture into your springform pan and shake them around to evenly distribute them. Ever wonder how to get a perfect, uniform crust? Use a measuring cup to press the crumbs into place! The flat bottom and rounded sides are perfect, look how nice that is!

After you have your crumbs packed well all round the bottom and sides of your pan, place it on a baking sheet. I learned the hard way that the butter will seep out and when the butter hits the oven element, well, your oven will catch on fire. Trust me, that’s a little scary. Use a baking sheet to catch your butter! Bake the crust at 350 for about 10 minutes. Here’s what you will get.

While your crust is baking, you can start mixing your filling. First you need to mix the softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla really, really, really good. You want this mixture to be smooth as silk, no lumps! When we had The Coffeehouse, I would put them in my stand mixer and walk away, go fix myself something to eat, check Facebook, go grocery shopping, whatever – just make sure you occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl.  If you have a stand mixer, by all means, use it, if not, its ok, you can use a hand mixer. If you are going to make very many cheesecakes I would suggest investing in a heavy duty hand mixer though. I have burned up the motor in 3 cheapo hand mixers making cheesecakes, just so you know. Now, once your cream cheese mixture is nice and smooth are ready to add your eggs.

Now, here comes the trick to my cheesecakes that make them so much different from most others. I separate my eggs and beat the whites before folding them into my cream cheese mixture. This gives the cheesecake a much lighter texture than most cheesecakes. So, separate your eggs (carefully, no egg yolks in the whites!!) and go ahead and put the yolks in with the cream cheese and put all the whites in a metal or glass bowl. Beat the yolks into the cream cheese (on low speed)  until they are just barely mixed in. Don’t overbeat the yolks, that can cause problems, I’m not sure why but it can so just don’t do it.

Wash the beaters off really well – any traces of fat can keep the egg whites from forming the soft peaks that we want (which is why you don’t want any yolk in the whites.) Beat your egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Your eggs will start off like this, and you want them to end up like……

this.

Now, GENTLY fold the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture until they are well incorporated.

Pour the cream cheese mixture over your cooled crust.

Give your pan a few little twists to distribute everything evenly, then drop it (gently, just form an inch or less!!) on the counter a couple of times to help it settle and let the air bubbles rise to the top and burst.

Here is what you will have when it’s done. GASP!! My cheesecake cracked!! It’s OK!! Martha Stewart may throw it away like this, but I promise you this – Paula Deen  would NOT! Cheesecakes crack and it rains on picnics – its life, it happens. Enter – topping. Cheesecake toppings will cover a multitude of culinary sins. I have overbaked a cheesecake before and had a chewy top, but the inside was fine. I peeled the top off, covered it with a chocolate ganache and it was wonderful. I have even had a cheesecake fall apart on me when I was packaging it at The Coffeehouse and I was able to piece it back together, chill it until it was good and firm and cover it with a topping and the guy came back to tell me it was the best thing he’d ever had and he wanted another cake just like it the next week. So, don’t worry about a little cosmetic flaw, that’s what makeup is for!

After your cheesecake has cooled for 10 minutes, take a knife and run it around the edges between the cake and the pan to loosen the cake from the sides. This is an important step, if you don’t do this, the cake will stick to the sides as it deflates (Gasp again! It will do that too!) and you will have more than a crack, you’ll get a crater, once again, trust me on this – experience has been my best teacher. Let it cool for another hour at room temperature before putting it into the fridge to chill overnight. Cheesecakes are much better if they are allowed to chill for at least 12 hours. Can you chill it for less time? Yes, but the flavors will blend much better if you give it a good 12 hour chill. Actually, any cream cheese based dessert needs several hours of chill time to let the flavors blend, I don’t know why, they just do.

In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, sugar and vanilla.

In a CHILLED metal or glass bowl, whip the whipping cream with CHILLED beaters until soft peaks form – the cold helps the whipping cream get nice and fluffy a lot faster, it has something to do with the fat, you can look it up on wikipedia if you need to know why. Remember – egg whites get no fat and cream needs to be cold.

Fold the whipped cream into the sour cream mixture and spread it all over your cheesecake. You can put the topping on before or after the big chill, it doesn’t really make a big difference. I like to do it before and let it chill with the cake. Here’s another little tip – always let a cheesecake stand at room temperature for at least half an hour before serving. Do what?? After the big chill lecture? Yes, once again, I don’t know why just do it. The flavors are so much better when you do this. Ice cold cheesecake just doesn’t cut it. So a little while before serving, remove the cheesecake from the fridge and remove the sides from the springform pan (make sure you lift the ring straight up).

Don’t throw away the crumbs that fall off the crust, scoop them up and sprinkle them over the top, they make a nice garnish. Then, slice and serve your cheesecake. Last tip, when you cut a cheesecake, swipe the knife on the side of a bowl or plate after each cut to get nice clump free slices.  Oh, and be ready to have requests to make cheesecake for everyone’s every occasion.

Print Recipe

Banker’s Favorite Cheesecake

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheesecake

Servings: 8 slices

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs about 40 squares
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp if you use cinnamon graham crackers
• 1 stick butter melted

Filling:

• 3 8oz cream cheese softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 lg eggs separated

Topping:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream whipped

Instructions

• In a small bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon; stir in butter.
• Press onto the bottom and 2 in. up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan.
• Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• Reduce heat to 325°.
• In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until very smooth.
• Add egg yolks; beat on low just until combined.
• In a small metal or glass  bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into cream cheese mixture. Pour over crust.
• Bake for 1 hour or until center is almost set.
• Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.
• Combine the sour cream, sugar and vanilla; fold in whipped cream. Spread over cheesecake.
• Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan.