Tag: cheesecake

As I’m sure you have probably guessed, I seem to be on somewhat of a dessert kick lately. I wanted to try a lot of full recipes for all of you, but one of my personal favorite desserts is cheesecake, Thanks to my daughter. That is a pretty funny story…

You see, when I was pregnant with her, I had cravings for three things: White Castle burgers, hot dogs and cheesecake! I know, that sounds really awful, lol. I normally eat pretty healthy, but for some reason during that pregnancy, I just wanted those foods. In fact, I was 8 and 1/2 months pregnant when I really want a cheesecake at 10:30 at night. Her father was leaving to go to work (police overnight shift), and he was running late and said he could not go to the diner about three blocks down the road to pick up the cheesecake. It had snowed already a couple days before. The roads were icy, and right then we had blizzard like conditions. I said okay, waited till he left, and then put boots on my swollen feet, grab my coat and an umbrella, and waddled my way down the icy road in the snow at 10:45 p.m. to go get my cheesecake. 

It took me a while, as I had gained 60 lb and I was pretty big and unbalanced, and am normally clumsy anyway. But I took my time and it had started to snow and it was windy, but I made it. I was so happy, and I opened the door to the diner and it was nice and warm and I waddle in and who do I see there, but a policeman holding a bag with cheesecake in it for me, and he was very annoyed with me!!!

Fortunately, my beautiful daughter survived my cheesecake escapade, here is a photo of her now with a dear friend (she’s the one with the shock of red hair!):

Moving on, I looked high and low for a recipe to try, as my goal is to try recipes from a variety of food bloggers. However, I was super nervous as I had never made a cheesecake before. Well, I made several no-bake cheesecakes, and they were good, but there’s nothing like the lusciousness of a baked cheesecake in my opinion.

As you can see, I kept coming back to Sally over at Sally’s Baking Addiction. The reason was simple. Sally gives the best laid out directions that I have ever seen. I am so bad at reading and following directions, but I really wanted this to turn out right. Sally explains why you need everything in this recipe to really be followed, she doesn’t just say you have to do it this way, she gives very good explanations. For example, having everything a room temperature makes everything blend together much better. The water bath that she recommends to bake the cheesecake in has a reason behind it. So this time, I followed her directions, and I can say that it was worth it! This cheesecake was the creamiest, most delicious I have ever had in my life. You won’t be disappointed, I promise! 

What you’ll need:

For the Graham Cracker Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 full sheets of graham crackers)
• 5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar

For the Cheesecake:

• Four 8-ounce blocks full fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• Toppings that you like. I made cherry sauce and I will share that recipe very soon.

Instructions

Make sure to put one of your racks to the lower middle position in your oven. Preheat your oven to 350°.

To make the crust: I used my Flex+ Multi-prep to process the graham crackers into crumbs. 

Next, I added the melted butter and the sugar and gave it a quick pulse to combine.

Press the mixture into the bottom of your 9-in Springform pan. I used our meat tenderizer to press down the crumbs evenly, letting some come up the sides just a little bit. Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes.

When done, remove from the oven and wrap aluminum foil around the outside of the pan. This protects your cheesecake while it’s baking in the water bath, as you will see.

To make the filling: 

I used the Flex+ Multi-prep again to mix the cream cheese and sugar together on medium high speed for about 2 minutes.

Next, I added the sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice, mixing until fully combined.

Lower the speed to medium, and add your eggs one at a time. Please note: only mix until the eggs are incorporated. Sally stated that if you over mix, your cheesecake can deflate and crack as it cools. Once my eggs were barely incorporated, I turned off the mixer and finished the rest by folding them in. 

Okay, I forgot to mention you should grab a large roasting pan to prepare a water bath. I grabbed my enameled cast iron pan, and heated up enough water for our purposes.

Pour your cheesecake batter into the springform pan. Place in the roasting pan, and fill around your cheesecake with 1-inch of HOT water.

Bake at 350° for 55 – 70 minutes, or until center is almost set. One thing, I did not pay attention as well as I should have due to my own oven, so the back half of my cheesecake was slightly browned, but this did not affect the taste at least to me. But just keep an eye on that, and if you notice that it is browning, you can cover it with foil halfway through.

Once the cheesecake is done, turn the oven off and open the door just a little bit. Let the cheesecake sit in the water bath while the oven cools down for another hour.

Remove from oven and let cool completely. Once cooled, cover and refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours, or overnight. I couldn’t wait that long, so I did 4 hours. Seriously, who has that kind of willpower?

Remove the rim from the springform pan. I used the slice and serve to, well, slice and serve the cheesecake! Sally points out that it’s easier to slice if you dip your knife into warm water and clean it between each slice.

I made an easy cherry sauce (recipe coming soon), but you could top your cheesecake with whatever you like, I did top some with melted dark chocolate and that was delicious. It was also really delicious plain. Why yes, I did have three slices! No regrets. 

Did I mention that my daughter HATES cheesecake?? She has never liked it, perhaps because I ate a LOT of it while pregnant with her. More for me, at any rate. lol. Please head over to Sally’s Baking Addiction to check out this amazing recipe, link below. She goes into great detail and I found this to be so very helpful in my first baked cheesecake adventure. I was so happy it did not deflate or crack on the top! Please let me know if you give this a try, and let Sally know, she is so kind and appreciates the feedback.

My recipe video is at the bottom of this post, along with link to this wonderful recipe. 

Listed below are the products I used for this recipe. Please feel free to go to my website to purchase any or all of them here (please note I make commission if you do): https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/marianielsen

PLEASE NOTE: If you want any of these items, but DON’T want to pay full price, I would be happy to help you with a party on our NEW platform TABLE, so that you can get some products FREE and discounted! I am now scheduling parties for October! For the month of October, 2021, anyone who hosts a party with me on TABLE will be entered to WIN the Family Pizza Set! Let’s make great food together!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Maria Nielsen (@imapampchef)

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/classic-cheesecake/#tasty-recipes-66517-jump-target