New York Cheesecake

Yesterday, I decided to make a cheesecake. So I bought my ingredients then realised my flatmate was the one with the cake tins. And she'd already left for the summer. So today, I popped to the hardware store and picked up a loose bottomed 7" tin.


Now cheesecake is possibly my favourite dessert. When I was little, if I went to a restaurant for the first time, I would forever judge that restaurant by the quality of the cheesecake. I blame my mother, who made awesome cheesecakes, then just stopped.


So surprisingly, this is only the 2nd cheesecake I've ever made. The first being for Food Technology at school. And it's turning out well, though it needs an overnight stay in the fridge to set. Here it is straight from the oven:






Now here is how I made it using very rough measurements as I only have a basic set of scales:

for the base:

100g biscuits (rich tea for 60p, beaten to a fine dust with the back end of a heavy knife)
60g unsalted butter (melted)
30g sugar (bog standard granulated)
a couple pinches of cinnamon


for the cheesy bit:

400g cream cheese (i.e. 2 packets of philadelphia original)
100g sugar (see above)
2 tablespoons ~40g plain flour
2 eggs
couple squirts of lemon juice
{lots of people say 40ml of cream is good here, but i don't like buying or using cream for some reason, unless its for carbonara. so I didn't bother.}


My method [no madness today]:

• Basically for the base I popped the butter in a plastic bowl in a bigger bowl of boiled water.


• While the butter was melting I bashed away at my biscuits with the handle of my breadknife; some people who live at home and not in a student flat might like to use a blender.


• I mixed the biscuit crumbs and sugar into the butter with a plastic spatula then spooned it into my cake tin which I'd greased to death with a knob of butter.


• Popped my cake tin in the fridge and prepared myself for the cheese.



• For the cheese filling I mixed the cream cheese, the flour and the sugar into a bowl.


• Then I cracked my two eggs into the mix: one at a time, mixing each one in gently before adding the next. Now this bit was weird 'cause eggs don't make the mix look pretty. I was scared it was congealing or something. Just keep mixing til it looks smooth and creamy.



• Then I took my cake tin full of biscuit and spooned in all the cheese.


• I plonked my cake tin into an oven at 175°C (~347°F for the Americans reading) and left it there for 15 minutes. After which point I turned the temperature down to 120°C (~250°F).


• I left my cheesecake in there for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and put it on the side to cool. It is still at this moment cooling, and I look forward to tasting it tomorrow.

Now for some pictures taken during the process.




On the left, my base of rich tea biscuits. On the right the cheese filling with my not very modern scales in the background

I'll post the end result tomorrow.

ta ta for now,

student_gourmand



PS Tasted gorgeous. Was a bit dense, so if you like your cheesecake fluffy and not so rich, then add the cream. Was perfect for me though. My flatmates liked it too :)
So the final result was a sweet, creamy, luxuriously rich yet simple cheesecake with a crunchy biscuit base to contrast. It went perfectly with Bon Maman strawberry preserve slathered on top.