My Grandmother of Polish heritage was one amazing cook, she took simple ingredients and made classic favorites for our family. Her cheesecake could win awards anywhere, she never gave me the recipe, I just watched her make oh so many times.
Ingredients:
- 3 packages of Philly brand cream cheese
- 1 and ¼ cups of sugar
- 3 table spoons of butter
- 1 cup of crushed graham crackers
- 1 table spoon of pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup of sour cream
- 1 shot or so of heavy whipping cream (I just pour some in)
- A spring form pan
- Baking sheet
- Mixer or hand mixing tools
Setup:
- It’s helpful to let all the ingredients come to room temperature
- Remove the cheese from it’s wrappings and place in the mixing bowl, put 1 cup of sugar on top of the cheese and let sit
- Crack open the eggs and place into a bowl, set aside
- Melt the butter
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, place rack so cake will sit about 2/3 up in oven
Pie Crust:
- Mix 1 cup of graham crackers with 1/4 cup sugar and 3 tbl spoons melted butter
- Take some additional butter and coat the bottom and sides of the spring form pan
- Holding the pan on an angle place some of the graham cracker crust along the rim about 1/2 inch to one inch high
- Then pat in remaining crumbs onto the bottom of the pan, this forms the shell for the cake
- Set aside
Cheese Cake Filling:
- With the mixer on slow start mixing the cheese and sugar until combined and smooth
- Stop the mixer every once in a while and with a spatula scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate into the mix
- Add the eggs into the mixture one at a time until each is incorporated then add the next
- With mixer on medium continue stirring and add in the vanilla extract
- Stop mixer and in the sour cream and mix until incorporated
- Stop mixer and clean the sides as you did earlier, start mixing again and add in the heavy cream
- Mix for another 1-2 minutes until the mixture is smooth and without lumps
Bake:
- Pour the mix into the pan with the crust which you prepared earlier
- Using a knife or spatula spread the mixture so the top is uniform
- Place the cake in the oven and cook for 55 minutes
- Once the 55 minutes is done, turn off oven, leave cake in, open the over door about 20% and let cake sit another hour
- After the second hour is done, take cake out, place on counter for another hour
- After the third hour is complete you can cover the cake with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator, while still in pan
- Let the cake cool overnight in the refrigerator
Serve:
- Remove the spring form from the pan
- Using a sharp knife you can now cut the cake
- eat and enjoy
more to come…
/frank
