New York Baked Cheesecake, Its a piece of Cake! Honest! (Baking)

Member Name: luigi0778

Product:	Baking
Date:	21/04/09 (625 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes great, cheap ingredients,

Disadvantages: Long waiting time before eating, takes a little effort to create

-General-
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Technically you could consider a cheesecake a dessert, however this recipe is for a New York style Baked Cheesecake, so I would consider it, a baked item. So I hope nobody objects too strongly to this being placed where it is in speakers corner.

This baked cheesecake recipe, is fool-proof. No really, if you looked up the definition of a fool in the dictionary, searched high and low and found one, and asked them to follow this recipe they would succeed. I can not emphasis enough, just how simple and economical it is to make.

The taste is just superlative, its deeply rich, but yet is light enough to be enjoyed after a meal, or just on its own with an afternoon coffee or tea. This is by far my favourite baking recipe in the world.

So without further ado, this is how you can create this gastronomical delight.



-Equipment-:
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Electric Hand mixer or similar,
Mixing bowl,
Spring-form baking tin (cake tin) with a loose bottom (no smutty comments please). A diameter of 20cm will produce a nice depth of cheesecake for the given ingredients list below.


-Ingredients-
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65g melted butter (best melted in a microwave).
150g digestive biscuits
150g golden caster sugar (or plain caster sugar if you cant find it)
200ml Sour Cream
600g Cream Cheese (Philadelphia, or supermarket own brand)
2 large Free Range Eggs (or cheaper eggs if on budget)
A teaspoon of Vanilla extract


-Method-
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-First preheat your oven to approximately 170C, which is Gas 3.

-Meanwhile smash the digestive biscuits into small fragments, by placing in a plastic bag and hitting with a hard object. Rolling pin, a pan! your fist!

-Now place this smashed mix into a bowl, and pour over the melted butter, mix and incorporate together.

-Next you want to pour this mixture into your springform tin, push the contents down to form an even layer.

-Now throw this (not literally you understand) into the middle of the oven, and leave for about 8-10 minutes, until they golden up. (do NOT burn it). When done remove from the oven, and put to one side on a suitable surface. DO NOT SWITCH OFF THE OVEN! Instead reduce the temperature to about 135C or Gas 1, and proceed to the next steps.

-Grab a clean mixing bowl (or clean the one you used earlier) and into it throw the eggs, cream cheese, sugar, sour cream and vanilla extract.

-Grab your hand mixer thingy, and whizz away until you have a well combined smooth looking mixture. (approx 2-3 minutes on average).

-Now pour this mixture into the cake tin, and very lightly tap the sides to remove air bubbles that may have formed during "the pour".

AT THIS STAGE YOU CAN CREATE VARIATIONS ON THE BASIC CHEESECAKE BY DOING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING IDEAS: You can if you wish, swirl melted chocolate onto the surface, or possibly a runny fruit jam. You could even top it with a fruit layer. Tinned peaches come to mind.

-Next carefully place the cake tin into the middle of the oven, and bake at the Gas 1 (135-140C) for at least 30 minutes, until the sides have started to firm up, and slightly colour. Give it a gentle shake and it should appear quite firm(ish).

-After the 30 or so minutes cooking time from above, switch-off the oven, and leave WELL alone for at least 3 hours with the door closed.

-Remove the cooled tin from the oven, and place in a fridge, and do not touch for at least 5 hours. (to finish setting, and allowing flavours to balance)

-Enjoy it!

Summary: You will never believe something with so few ingredients, will taste so great! Enjoy it!