New York Style Cherry Cheesecake
The taste of heaven on a fork!
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor
- 1 bowl mixer
- 1 Large roasting pan
- 1 rolled aluminum foil
- 1 small glass bowl
- 1 10" spring-form pan
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 packages Graham Crackers about 18 total crackers
- 2 T sugar
- 1/2 C butter
- 1/4 t salt
Filling
- 4 blocks Cream Cheese 4 lb
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 C sour cream
- 1/4 t salt
- 2 C sugar
- 3 T four
- 1 T vanilla
- 1 small lemon, zested and squeezed
- 1 can Cherry Pie filling (or Blueberry, Raspberry, even Caramel Syrup) 21 oz.
Instructions
Crust
- Grind the graham crackers in the food processor, 4 at a time
- place graham cracker crumbs, salt, and sugar into glass bowl. Mix well.
- add stick of butter to bowl and microwave for 1 minute, or until butter has almost completely melted.
- use butter wrapper to generously grease the bottom and sides of the spring-form pan.
- wrap the bottom of the pan in aluminum foil, then do it again. It will be sitting in water, so no seams on the bottom. fold the foil up the sides.
- mix thoroughly and press into the bottom and about 2" up the sides of the spring-form pan
- bake at 375 for 15 minutes to firm up the crust. remove and turn down the oven to 325
- add 1" water to the large roasting pan and place in the oven while it is cooling to 325
Filling
- mix sugar, flour, salt, sour cream, and cream cheese in mixing bowl until just consistent
- add in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides to make sure it is even
- add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla, then mix until smooth, but don't overdo it
- pour filling into spring-form pan. Mixture should come up to the top of the graham cracker crust, but it is fine if it goes over.
- place spring-form pan in water-filled broiler pan and cook for 90 minutes.
- turn the oven off and open the door slightly. Let the oven and cake cool for 15 minutes, then remove the broiler pan with the spring-form pan in it and let it cool on a rack for 30 minutes.
- take the spring-form pan out of the broiler pan and remove the aluminum foil. If the filling was over the top of the crust, take a butter knife or a frosting knife and run it around the edges (don't scratch the pan).
- cover the top of the spring-form pan with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
- remove from the refrigerator and place on a serving plate. Carefully remove the spring-form.
- evenly pour Cherry Topping over cheesecake. Cut with a wet, sharp knife and serve.