Saturday, April 11, 2009

Mmmm, Cheesecake!

Many moons ago I had the best cheesecake at an Italian restaurant in the North End in Boston. I don't remember which restaurant it was, but I do remember that the cheesecake slice I got was ginormous, it was extremely creamy, the crust to die for, and the sour cream topping was incredible.

I've been looking for a recipe to replicate it, and I was shocked when I found this recipe by Andrew Zimmern (actually, it's his mom's recipe) but you can understand how shocked I was to find it in his blog. This from the man that eats bull testicles and insects for lunch! Anyway, I used a 10" springform pan (lined the outside with foil) for this and baked it in a water bath for the first 40 minutes, but I'm sure if you follow his recipe below it will be just as good. I'm bringing my dad a big piece because he absolutely LOVES cheesecake and we'll see what the thinks!

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

  • 4 oz butter (one stick)
  • 2 c graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers)
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • 1 t cinnamon
Filling:
  • 4 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 t vanilla extract
  • 1⁄2 c sugar (I put in closer to 3/4 cup sugar)
  • 24 oz cream cheese, room temperature
  • 2 t lemon juice
Topping:
  • 1 pint sour cream
  • 4 T sugar.
  • 1⁄2 t vanilla
DIRECTIONS

For the Crust: Melt butter, mix with other ingredient. Press into pie plate, forming bottom and sides. Since I used a springform pan, I only pressed to form a bottom; using the bottom of a measuring cup works in evening out the crust.

For the Filling: Beat eggs and sugar and mix until well combined. Add cream cheese, vanilla and lemon juice (I also added a 1/2 tsp of lemon zest). Pour into crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool 1/2 hour. (I baked my cheesecake in a water bath for 40 minutes).

For the Topping: Mix all ingredients. Spread on top. Bake at 475 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Chill at least overnight to 24 hours.

2 comments:

LindseyA said...

OMG. that is all I have to say.

Armida said...

Update: my dad LOVED the cheesecake. I gave him two ginormous pieces and he ate all two in one sitting! I think I'll stick to using a sprinform pan and adding a little more sugar to the recipe as well. Cheers!