Cheesecake.

Tee minus 2 and counting, and oh, how I'm counting. As a going away present, I'm making one last cheesecake for the people in my department. It really is bringing things full circle, as the first time I ran the Christmas Treat Days, I baked two pans of cheesecake. That really was my trial by fire and started me down my sugary, baked path.

The recipe has served me well; it's requested almost as often as my ginger sparklers, and I rather suspect my cheesecake has similar properties to Love Potion No. 9. At the very least, I should be able to increase my dowry request because of it. Cardiologists love the business it generates. We're talking about some heavy weight ingredients.

Ingredients:

Crust
1 1/3 C graham crumbs
1/4 C sugar
1/3 C melted butter

Filling
3 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs (or 2 jumbo/extra large)
1 C sour cream

1. To make the crust, mix the ingredients together and pack into a 10 inch springform pan, or if you're doubling the recipe, an 11 x 15 roasting pan.
2. Bake the crust at 350 F for 5-6 minutes. When you smell it, it's done.
3. Remove the crust from the oven, and cool.

Crust done, we move onto the filling. As an aside, I've found it interesting that whenever I get out of practice baking, I tend to make a bigger mess. Spatters, spills and how did that glob of cream cheese get there? I don't seem to have those problems when I keep up my baking.

4. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. It's very important to beat it until just mixed together. Don't try to get all the lumps out as you'll introduce air, which is the bane of any cheesecake.
5. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Beating till just mixed, and repeating.
6. Add in the sour cream, and mix.
7. Pour filling into the crust, and smooth out.
8. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350F, and then turn off the oven, and allow to cool for another hour. From there, you'll want to let it rest on the counter for a little while longer and finally place it in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

Simple, eh? Well, the devil is in the details. As I'd mentioned, air is the bane of any cheesecake. The air pockets will expand while baking, causing the cheesecake to puff up like a souffle, and when it collapses, the surface will crack. While still edible, it is unsightly, especially when you're serving the cheesecake plain (mind you, nobody will complain).

Another weapon in the war on cheesecake crack is the simple pan of water, pictured here. By placing a pan filled with some water on the rack below the cheesecake during baking, you maintain some moisture in the oven and help to keep things from drying out.

I still get edge cracks though, though this is because the filling is in contact with the hot pan. You can minimize these by bringing the crust up the side of the pan, and filling only as high as the top of the crust. But this can be tedious, so when I'm making a large pan, I'll just pat the crust down so that any given piece only has crust on the base. I'l also give the cheesecake a half turn, about halfway through the baking time.

Hopefully, when you're done, you'll end up with something that looks like what you see here. Of course, as always, I do utter a little prayer... please Lord, don't let me screw this up. =)

You'll also end up with a sink full of dishes. Who wants to dry?