I'M CRAZY ABOUT CHEESECAKE

This morning I made a cheesecake and marveled at the effects of my new oven

 - oh boy - 

I will never take things that work

 for granted!

This is really a simple cheese cake I have made since the l970's.  Here is what you will need:

For the crust: 1 1/2 cups of crushed cinnamon graham crackers, mixed with 1/4 cup of melted butter.

For the filling:  3 8 oz pkg of cream cheese at room temperature,

1 1/4 cups of sugar, 6 eggs separated, 1 pint of sour cream, 1/2 cup of flour, 2 tsp vanilla, grated rind of 1 large lemon, juice of 2 small or 1 large lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

To make the crust:  butter a 10 1/2" springform pan and place foil around the bottom and edges. Combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter and press in the bottom.  Put in the refrigerator.

Filling:  Mix the cream cheese in a large bowl and add the sugar and egg yolks.  Stir in the sour cream, flour, vanilla, lemon rind and juice until smooth.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till stiff and then fold into the batter.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Cool and remove outer pan. Refrigerate.  I just dump 1 can of blueberry pie filling right on top!

CHEESECAKE

I started making cheesecakes back in the 70's for our church Fall Festival.  Each year I doubled this recipe and made a huge one to sell.  I always put blueberry pie filling on the top.  This recipe was from an old Southern Living Magazine from that era and is really easy. 

I loved the scene in "Julie and Julia" where Julia Child talked about when things go wrong in the kitchen and said "whose to know - it's just you in the kitchen".  I had one of those moments last night after putting the cheesecake in the oven and looking over to see the flour still on the counter.  Yes, I forgot to put it in!

So....I grabbed the cake pan back out of the oven - dumped everything back in a bowl and mixed in the flour and returned it to the oven. Of course, some of what was intended as the crumb crust was now mixed through but it didn't matter really.  I topped mine with cherry pie filling.

Here is the recipe and remember to add the flour!  You will need these ingredients:  For the crust:  1 1/2 cups cinnamon graham-cracker crumbs and 1/2 stick of butter melted

For the cheesecake filling:  (3)  8 oz pkg of cream cheese at room temperature,  1 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, 6 eggs separated, 1 pint sour cream, 1/3 cup sifted flour, 2 Tsp vanilla, grated rind of 1 lemon, juice of 1 lemon

To make the crust:  Generously grease a cheesecake pan with butter.  Place pan in center of a piece of aluminum foil and press foil up around side of pan

Combine graham cracker crumbs with butter in a bowl and mix well. Press them in the pan on the bottom and up the lower sides and put in the refrigerator

Now the filling:  Mix on low in a large bowl: cream cheese and gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg yolks one at a time until well blended and stir in sour cream, flour, vanilla and lemon rind and juice until smooth.

Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl till stiff peaks from.  Fold these into the cake mixture and pour all into the cake pan. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  This recipe suggests leaving the cake in the oven to cool for 1 hour.  I didn't have time for that as I had to go to bed but I am sure it has to do with keeping it from "falling".  Mine fell - no one cared.

Chill overnight before serving and put any pie filling on top if desired.