Conquering Cheesecake

When your greatest fear is rooted in cream cheese, you’ve just got to laugh.

The only thing crazier than fearing a dessert …. is writing about it.

But I cannot lie.

Cheesecake is scary.

Especially for a perfectionist like me. One false move and you get a crack or worse a jiggly, soggy center or a burned top. There is so much room for error. And, of course, the most dreaded word… failure.

And the process, well, it’s lengthy and nerve wracking.

So, for years, I did what most aspiring home chefs and bakers do… I avoided making the dam dessert.  I mean who needs cheesecake when there’s chocolate.

But every once in a while, someone would come along and very persistently (I mean that in the nicest way possible) order one.

And well I was forced to do what everyone else in the amateur baking world does…cover up my mistakes like a sleuth.

Raspberries to the rescue. Piped whipped cream.

And when I really messed it up, the scrape and glaze method. I apologize right now to anyone who received these desserts. And I appreciate you lying to me and telling me they were good. I am sure they tasted ok but I hated them because I knew I could do better.

That’s basically how I approach life.

And, in turn, how I work in the kitchen.

I teach myself and over time get better.

Anyone can cook. I am proof of that.

And I am here today to tell you anyone can make a cheesecake… you just need to want to learn how and consume a lot of wine. I’m kidding about the wine. Unless you really know me.

So, here’s the deal. I created this blog and will be adding to it fairly regularly to help you, as well as share what I have learned from my trials and tribulations in the kitchen. This blog, I hope, will feed my need to start writing again regularly.

Once a writer, always a writer. And when I can’t write I need to talk a lot … so you can see this is a win for everyone… including my family.

We will start with cheesecake and really the sky’s the limit after that… I can demystify everything from making the perfect artisan quiche to how to roast a juicy and tender chicken

(so you can finally stop spending more on those Perdue ones with the little plastic popper) to how to whip up a batch of scones in 20 minutes or less and wow everyone in the process.

Yeah, yeah, yeah… quit yammering and get to the cheese!

My Recipe….

Rosemary Fresh NY Style Cheesecake

Ingredients…

For the crust:

1 ¾ cup Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/3 cup unsalted butter melted

¼ cup granulated sugar

For the filling:

3 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

3 eggs (room temperature)

1 cup granulated sugar

Simple enough right… well, I will tell you the secret to this recipe is not in the ingredients. Heck, I may or may not have found this on the back of a box somewhere… I actually really don’t know where since like most of my recipe cards it’s been stained and worn over time to the point where I have no idea how I came up with it or where I stole it from.

Back to business…

You will need:

A 9-inch springform pan

A 10-inch cake pan

A roasting pan

Here’s my ah-hah moment. You know how for years you have read to cook your cheesecake in a water bath and then you read how you should wrap that pan in aluminum foil. Well forget it …no matter how well you wrap that sucker water will find a way in. Trust me on this. I have had plenty of soggy crust. Sad, sad, sad.

So, I devised this crazy but fool-proof system. You make your cake in the springform pan, that’s been placed inside the larger cake pan (Which is truly leak-proof) and you put that in the roasting pan filled half-way with water.

Don’t worry. Here’s where I babble on and walk you through the whole process step by step.

Warning:

Do not rush.

That’s really my only warning.

Cheesecake takes time.

And the results are worth every second… so here we go!

Set your oven to 350.

Mix your graham cracker crumbs and sugar. If you are GF, guess what … easy as pie. Use GF graham crackers … put them in the Cuisinart until they well crumbed and follow along.

Then, melt your butter. I like to do this slowly in a small pan on the stove so it does not burn. Once melted, slowly pour melted butter on top of your well-blended graham cracker crumbs and sugar.

Mix it until well combined. Then dump the wet crumb and butter mixture into the springform pan. Pat it along the bottom and about 2 ½ inches up the sides of the pan. This does not have to be perfect … just even so you don’t have one side much higher than another for obvious reasons.

Ok. At this point you should place your springform pan inside your 10-inch cake pan.

Then get your roasting pan and fill it half-way with water so that when you place your cake pan in … the water is about halfway up the cake pan. You don’t want it to be so high that it will spill into your cheesecake. After you measure that you can remove your cake pan from the roasting pan to resume making the filling before putting everything in the oven.

For the filling… this is so important. Crucial, in fact.

All ingredients must be at room temperature.

I will take my cream cheese out of the fridge at least an hour before I plan to make this dessert. As well as my eggs. The sour cream I measure about ½ hour prior to making.

The reason for this is you want to be able to blend all the ingredients without having to overmix them. Overmixing introduces too much air which leads to cracks.

You not want to whip the heck out of anything today.

I want your mixer running at low speed. That’s it!

Trust me.

Ok when all ingredients are at room temperature, place your cream cheese in your Kitchen Aid mixer or use a hand-held blender. You can use your wire whisk for this. Mix it until silky and smooth. Then add your cup of sugar. Mix again until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla. Mix. Then add eggs one at a time. I like to crack all three eggs into a little bowl first and then pour in one egg in a time rather than cracking them directly into the mixer. It’s safer that way. No shells in your cheesecake!

Mix until just blended. Remember you are not going for a tornado in your mixer today…

Slow and steady wins the cheesecake prize.

Once blended… pour your batter into the springform pan which is nestled already in your 10-inch cake pan.

It should rise up over the crumbs so that it is making contact with the springform pan on all sides. You might need to use a knife or spatula to achieve this result.

Ok then place your 10-inch cake pan in your roasting pan that is filled halfway with water.

And then very carefully place your roasting pan in the center rack of your preheated oven.

Close the door and set your timer for 63 minutes.

Now every oven is different. Yours might be done at 60 minutes. I would recommend peeking at 60… Your cheesecake is done when the center is almost set. You can tell this when you open your oven door slightly and peek and give the pan a little wiggle.

Ok… when your cheesecake is done. And this is very important, you will want to turn your oven off and open the oven door just slightly… I like to stick a wooden spoon in between the oven and the oven door to hold it open and then after 10 minutes I replace the spoon with oven mitts … so that it is open a little more.

Then after about 20 minutes I take out the oven mitts and open it a little more… what you are doing is very slowly lowering the temperature of the oven by letting the heat escape over the course of one hour.

So, in essence… it’s about one hour to bake and one hour to rest in the oven after baking. Once that second hour is up, you carefully remove your roasting pan from the oven and put it on a level surface. Remove your 10-inch cake pan from the water bath and place on the counter. Find yourself a very sharp knife and carefully run your knife around the rim of your pan to loosen the cheesecake. You do this so that as the cheesecake further cools it is able to shrink without being stuck to the pan. This reduces cracks as well as makes it easier to remove your finished product.

After sitting on the counter for about 30 minutes… the pan should be completely cool. I place the 10-inch cake pan still holding my springform pan and my cheesecake in the fridge. Refrigerate for four hours or overnight. When you are ready to remove your cheesecake, find a nice level flat serving dish… run your knife one more time around the rim of your refrigerated cheesecake and release the springform outer ring. Then, use that same long sharp knife, carefully run it along the bottom of your crust… in a circular motion, releasing it and sliding it onto your serving plate.

Ta-da!!!

That’s it.

Ha! Easy for me to say right.

If all else fails… grab the raspberries.

Food is love.

Practice makes perfect.

If you try this recipe please, please, please post your finished product. I love to see your creations and input.

Happy Baking!