"Perfect" Cheesecake

You know the saying "do one thing a day that scares you"? Well today my scary thing is making cheesecake. I know, I know - food should not be scary. Bears, scary. Sharks, scary. Spinning blue wheel of death on my MacBook, scary. Instead of scary food let's just say that I find the thought of making cheesecake to be intimidating, anxiety-inducing, and stressful...so when my sis tells me that her co-worker has requested cheesecake this year for his birthday, I had a mini panic attack. Great, I'm already afraid of it and now I need to make one not only for someone's birthday but also for it to be shared with all the co-workers? Yikes. No pressure.

Needless to say, I spent lots of time reading tips and tricks for making the "perfect" cheesecake and came across this site titled, appropriately enough, "How to Make Perfect Cheesecake" (click here for the source). I'm skeptical in general when someone says their recipe is "perfect" but I followed her instructions and guess what? It turned out SO GOOD!! I didn't mess up anything - no cracks on the top, didn't over- or under- bake it, it's level and pretty, creamy and smooth...if there's such a thing as "perfect" then this is about as close as I'm going to come. Whew. High 5.

This seems like lots of steps but it's just because there are so many tips - read thru everything before starting, none of it is hard! Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine. This one went together so easily and turned out so good that I made a second cheesecake (strawberry swirled) the next day - I totally wouldn't do that if it was too hard! I followed the instructions given by the site above, and also added a few changes of my own that I incorporated from other sites I read...

Ingredients ~

 for the crust:

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs 
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons melted butter

for the cheesecake:

• 2 pounds full-fat cream cheese (4 8oz. boxes), room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk (save the white for another use)

Directions ~

for the crust:

Spray a 9" springform pan with non-stick baking spray, line the bottom with parchment (optional)

1. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter together. 
2. Transfer it into the pan and use the bottom of a glass to press it evenly into the bottom. I didn't spread them up the sides but you can if you want.
3. Bake at 350' for 6 minutes; remove from oven and let cool before filling.

for the cheesecake:

• Cut two large pieces of foil and place them on your work surface on top of each other in a cross. Place a piece of parchment on top of the foil (so there are 3 layers total). Set the springform pan in the middle and fold the edges of the foil up and around the sides of the pan. The foil gives you extra protection against water getting into the pan during the water bath step. 

• Mix the cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. (Or use an electric handheld mixer and a large bowl.) Mix on medium-low speed until the mixture is creamy, like thick frosting, and no lumps of cream cheese remain. Scrape down the beater and the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

• Add the sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla, and beat on medium-low speed until combined and creamy. Scrape down the beater and sides of the bowl with a spatula.

• With the mixer on medium-low speed, beat in the eggs and the yolk one at a time. Wait until the previous egg is just barely mixed into the batter before adding the next one. At first, the mixture will look clumpy and broken, but it will come together as the eggs are worked in. Note: you don't want to over mix it once you're adding the eggs - it creates too much air in the batter and that could lead to cracking. Be gentle with this step.

• Scrape down the beater and sides of the bowl with a spatula. Stir the whole batter a few times by hand, being sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. The finished batter should be thick, creamy, and silky. Don't worry if you see a few specks of un-mixed cream cheese here and there; they will melt into the batter during baking and won't affect the finished cheesecake. 

• Put the batter in the fridge for at least an hour to chill it. 

• Pour the batter over the cooled crust and spread it into an even layer. Run a knife thru the batter a few times to release air bubbles. 

• Transfer the pan to a roasting pan or other baking dish big enough to hold the springform pan. Have a few cups of hot water standing by. 

• Put the roasting pan containing the cheesecake into the preheated 350’ oven, carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan being careful not to splash any water onto the cheesecake. Fill the roasting pan about half way up the sides of the springform pan (I used about 2 cups of hot water). This is creating a "water bath" for the cheesecake. 

• Bake for 55-60 minutes (for a 9" springform pan. You'll need to adjust the time for different sized pan). The cheesecake is done when the outer two to three inches look slightly puffed and set, but the inner circle still jiggles (like Jell-o) when you gently shake the pan. Some spots of toasted golden color are fine, but if you see any cracks staring to form move on to the next step right away.

• Leave the cheesecake in the oven. Turn off the oven and crack the door open (or prop it open with a wooden spoon). Let the cheesecake cool slowly for 1 hour.

• Remove the cheesecake from the oven and from the water bath, unwrap the foil, and transfer it to a cooling rack. Run a thin-bladed knife around the edge of the cake to make sure it's not sticking to the sides (which can cause cracks as it cools). Let the cheesecake cool completely on the rack.

• Chill the cheesecake, uncovered, for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days in the refrigerator. This step is crucial for letting the cheesecake set and achieving perfect cheesecake texture - don't rush it.

• Take the cheesecake out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you plan to serve. Unmold the cake and top the cheesecake just before serving.

notes: store leftovers uncovered in the fridge for several days, covering will cause condensation to build up.

ideas for topping your cheesecake:

• spread with a thin sweetened sour cream layer* (see below for recipe)
• pour soft chocolate ganache over the top
• add chopped fresh fruit
• spoon blueberry or strawberry sauce over top of individual slices

* to make an easy sour cream layer - stir together 1 cup of sour cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

For the record - my sis reported that someone said I probably put the sour cream layer on top to hide the cracks (I have pics to prove that it didn't crack, woohoo) so do what you want with that info. Maybe leave the topping off if you want to prove it didn't crack - and if it did crack? Big whoop. It's still going to taste delicious and really, is anyone not going to eat it because of that hahahah? 

Other birthday desserts I've made for my sister to take to work include:

2017: funfetti brownie cake
2016: sprinkles no-bake cheesecake
2015: giant whoopee pie (before I started the blog. I'll post that recipe in the future tho!)

Blueberry Sauce

I made 2 cheesecakes this weekend and will blog about that tomorrow. Today's quick tip is this easy blueberry sauce I made to top one of the cheesecakes but as I was writing this up to post today I found that I've shared this a couple years ago and forgot about it. So now I'm just re-posting my first one since I made the sauce the same exact way hahaha!! I did make a "slurry" of cornstarch and water for the blueberry sauce this time to help thicken it up. I also made a fresh strawberry sauce instead of raspberry - just diced strawberries mixed with store-bought strawberry glaze. Yum.

add a little cornstarch mixed
with water to the berries on the
stove to help thicken it. 

From 5/16:

Conversation last night with my niece about what dessert her boyfriend wants for his birthday:
Her - how hard is it to make cheesecake?
Me - (showed her a Food Network recipe) look at this recipe, it isn't too hard.
Her - what? 5 hours to make it? Uh, no...
Me - I can make it for you?
Her - No, he actually wants me to just buy a plain cheesecake and make the topping. He would like me to purchase the raspberries and reduce them in sugar. LMAO. He must think I'm fricken Betty Crocker.
Me - (after laughing at her...) well making topping is way easier than making cheesecake. How about you buy the cheesecake and I make the topping?
Her - deal.

So here is what I did for the topping...well, toppings because I also thought blueberry would be nice so I decided to make both :). These are beyond simple - for the raspberry I put 1.5 pints (that's 3 of those little clamshell containers) in a saucepan with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, cook over medium heat on the stovetop for approx 10 minutes. It was looking very thin so I mixed together 2 teaspoons of cornstarch with enough water to make it pourable, and drizzled a little in with the raspberries (note: I had a little left over and put some in the blueberries too...) to help thicken it up a bit. I then added another half pint of berries for a minute or so hoping they would stay chunkier but they all broke down and became sauce - delicious delicious sauce. I haven't strained it yet, waiting to hear from her if she thinks he wants it seedless or as is - I prefer it with seeds. If he wants the seeds removed I will pour it thru a fine mesh strainer to remove them.

For the blueberry topping I put 1 pint in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons sugar and the zest and juice of one lemon, cook over medium for about 5 minutes.

I zested the lemon right into the pot...

...then cut in half and squeeze cut side up so the
seeds don't fall into the pan. You can put your
other hand under the lemon to catch any falling
seeds if you aren't holding a camera in the other
hand trying to take a picture of how to do this!

Both of these are so good and so easy - mmmm I'm glad I made them, licking the spoons was such a treat!

finished product. I'm not a huge cheesecake lover, but I am a
berry sauce fiend so I'm really looking forward to dessert now!

PS: I just realize I blogged about the same niece 3 days in a row! Rolo cupcakes, pallet garden, and now berry sauce :). We obviously share a lot of the same interests!

Mini Cheesecakes

So remember when I made raspberry and blueberry topping for my niece's boyfriends birthday to serve over cheesecake (click here for that post - the topping is so good)? Yeah, well sure enough I forgot to take it with me that night so we ate the cheesecake plain. Actually I bummed some bottled raspberry sauce from the waitress at the restaurant we went too...duh. My bad. Now I have all this topping and wondering what to do with it! I decided to make mini cheesecakes and top with the sauce - and they turned out really good. Whew...I'm glad I could use it so I would stop eating it by the spoonful every time I opened the fridge.

I found a basic recipe that sounded good online at allrecipes (click here for the recipe), the only thing I changed is the crust. Instead of vanilla wafers I made a graham cracker version - in the food processor I ground up graham crackers (note: I used 1 sleeve which held 9 crackers and ended up with exactly one cup - wonder if they package them this way on purpose?), added 4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, 4 tablespoons of sugar, and a small pinch of coarse salt and mix well. This made about twice as much as I needed so maybe half the ingredients if you make them.

Put about a teaspoon of the crumb mixture into the bottom of mini cupcake pan (note: I used paper liners which made transporting and clean up so much easier), press gently. Then continue with the recipe.


After they were cooled I removed a little bit from the top using a small spoon, just enough to make a little well in the top of each cheesecake. Spoon some topping into the well and slightly covering the top - too much topping and it'll run off after you remove the paper, not the end of the world certainly but it makes them a little messy. Hmmm, but then you get to lick your fingers... so maybe you do want to add more topping... haha!

• original recipe (see above for the different crust I made)

• 1 (12 oz.) package vanilla wafers
• 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling

1. Preheat oven to 350'. Line miniature muffin tins with miniature paper liners. 

2. Crush the vanilla wafers, and place 1/2 t. into each paper cup.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top. 

4. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Top with a teaspoonful of cherry pie filling.

Berry Topping for Cheesecake

Conversation last night with my niece about what dessert her boyfriend wants for his birthday:
Her - how hard is it to make cheesecake?
Me - (showed her a Food Network recipe) look at this recipe, it isn't too hard.
Her - what? 5 hours to make it? Uh, no...
Me - I can make it for you?
Her - No, he actually wants me to just buy a plain cheesecake and make the topping. He would like me to purchase the raspberries and reduce them in sugar. LMAO. He must think I'm fricken Betty Crocker.
Me - (after laughing at her...) well making topping is way easier than making cheesecake. How about you buy the cheesecake and I make the topping?
Her - deal.

So here is what I did for the topping...well, toppings because I also thought blueberry would be nice so I decided to make both :). These are beyond simple - for the raspberry I put 1.5 pints (that's 3 of those little clamshell containers) in a saucepan with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, cook over medium heat on the stovetop for approx 10 minutes. It was looking very thin so I mixed together 2 teaspoons of cornstarch with enough water to make it pourable, and drizzled a little in with the raspberries (note: I had a little left over and put some in the blueberries too...) to help thicken it up a bit. I then added another half pint of berries for a minute or so hoping they would stay chunkier but they all broke down and became sauce - delicious delicious sauce. I haven't strained it yet, waiting to hear from her if she thinks he wants it seedless or as is - I prefer it with seeds. If he wants the seeds removed I will pour it thru a fine mesh strainer to remove them.

For the blueberry topping I put 1 pint in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons sugar and the zest and juice of one lemon, cook over medium for about 5 minutes.

I zested the lemon right into the pot...

...then cut in half and squeeze cut side up so the
seeds don't fall into the pan. You can put your
other hand under the lemon to catch any falling
seeds if you aren't holding a camera in the other
hand trying to take a picture of how to do this!

Both of these are so good and so easy - mmmm I'm glad I made them, licking the spoons was such a treat!

finished product. I'm not a huge cheesecake lover, but I am a
berry sauce fiend so I'm really looking forward to dessert now!

PS: I just realize I blogged about the same niece 3 days in a row! Rolo cupcakes, pallet garden, and now berry sauce :). We obviously share a lot of the same interests!