Make my own cheesecake

http://www.chocolate-source.co.uk/chocolate_recipes_cheesecake_double_chocolate_cheesecake.htm

I made several cheesecakes using recipes from the book “The Joy of Cheesecake.”

For our work Christmas Party last year, I made caramel cheesecake.

It was time consuming, but worthwhile!
I should have made more though!

Cheesecake

Crust
1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
3 TBLS sugar
½ Tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter

Filling
5 eggs, separated (yolks in large bowl and whites in small mixing bowl.)
1 cup sugar
1 lb. “Philly Fat Free” Cream cheese (2- 8 0z packages)
1 cup fat free sour cream
4 TBLS all purpose flour
1 Tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 275 F. Butter a 9 inch spring-form pan. Mix all crust ingredients with a fork and press mixture into bottom and sides of buttered pan. Set aside. Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Gradually beat in sugar. Break up cream cheese; add to egg mixture beating until smooth. Add sour cream, flour, and vanilla: continue beating until smooth. Set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into cheese mixture with a large spoon. Pour filling into prepared pan. Bake 70 min. Turn off oven and leave in one hour. DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR AT ANYTIME! After the hour is up, remove from oven and cool. Once cool you can eat at room temp or chill in refrigerator and serve cold. Eat plain or with a fruit topping. NOTE: IF YOU USE REGULAR CREAM CHEESE INSTEAD OF THE FAT FREE ONLY USE 2 TABLESPOONS OF FLOUR.

It was delicious!

non-bake cheescake (very yummy!) and mocha-chocolate cheesecake with white truffle sauce (decadent!!!!!)
both are very yummy & easy to make!

My family is full of cheesecake lovers, and I’m definitely one of them. I love playing with different variations on a traditional cheesecake (my current favorite is a key lime variety, and I also make a fairly tasty peanut butter one).

Once you get some basic recipes down, the possibilities are endless =)

Cheesecake isn’t cheap pre-made, and it’s relatively expensive to make yourself too. It costs about $8-12 to make one and I screwed my first one up.

The recipe called for 1hr in 250deg oven, then 1hr with oven turned off. It seemed a little low but I stuck to it. It seemed OK, the top was firm but didn’t brown on the top. Left it in the fridge overnight as directed. One small patch on the edge was like cheesecake should be, the rest was gooey almost unmodified batter underneath. I figure the next one needs to bake at a higher temperature.

Making your own cheese cake is great, and you should definately do it at least once. The only thing about it is that it takes FOREVER. If you impatient to get some cheesecake…don’t do this, go with the boxed stuff.

It’s so satisfying. I have a lovely recipe for a lemon one that always turns out well. The trickiest part is getting used to the springform pan, but once you’ve got that down, you’re golden.