NY Style Cheesecake

[templetonstoy]

One of my two favorite foods....the other is lasagna.

Enjoy!

Cookie Crust
1cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4 –inch bits

Cheese Filling
6 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
2 lbs. (four 8 ounce packages) cream cheese
1/2 pint sour cream
1/2 pint heavy cream
juice of one lemon
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 heaping Tablespoons flour

Crust
1. To make the crust, place the flour, sugar, grated lemon rind, vanilla extract, egg yolk, and butter in a large mixing bowl. With your fingertips, rub the ingredients together until they are well mixed and can be gathered into a ball. Dust with a little flour, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Butter and flour the bottom of a 9 inch X 2 inch spring-form pan, roll out a piece of dough to cover bottom. Dough should be as thick as for a normal sugar cookie (1/4 inch) Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven to a light brown color. Cool the pan and bottom. Butter the sides of the pan. Roll out and line the sides of the pan with more of the cookie dough. Trim excess dough from the edges.

Filling:
To make the filling, place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until it is creamy and smooth. Beat in the sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, and, when it is well incorporated, beat in the flour, lemon, vanilla, eggs and egg yolk and heavy cream. No lumps please!

Baking Step One:
Preheat the oven to 485-500 degrees. Oven should be hot to enhance color. Pour the filling into the cookie dough lined pan, bake in the center of the oven until a dark brown color has been achieved. The cake should also start to rise slightly. Remove and cool for 30 minutes and then set oven to 350 degrees.

Baking Step Two:
After 30 minutes return cheesecake to the oven for a final baking. This procedure will set the cake.

Remember that the cheesecake is like a pudding with only the eggs being used to firm the cake.

When the cake is bouncy in the center and slightly risen in the middle as well on the sides, it's finished. Turn off oven. Do not open the oven door for 2 hours! After the 2 hours are up, remove cake and refrigerate.


Note: Over bake, the cake will crack and be firm. Under bake, the cake will tend to be soft in the center. It's very similar to baking a Flan or a Quiche. Time will vary, due to the variance in each oven. (Usually 25-40 min) Cool at least 2 hours before attempting to remove from the pan. Best to refrigerate over night and serve at nearly room temperature.