Remodelaholic

Just like our Creme Brulee recipe, our good friends Joe and Lieann introduced us to this Cheesecake recipe.  We will always love them for introducing us to some of the most important desserts of our life, well that and they are a totally fun couple. I should really grab some of our Halloween Party pic-s so you can see Joe's scarily awesome costumes, but I am not sure they would appreciate me for showing them.  Moving on.

Do you like cheese cake?  Do you like rich creamy perfect cheese cake, the kind you think you have to buy to enjoy... well, here is the recipe.

Crust Ingredients
1 cup Graham Crumbs (about 8 graham crackers processed finely)
1 Tbsp Sugar
5 Tbsp Butter, melted
1 Tbsp butter for greasing pan

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs cream cheese (5 8 oz bricks) at room temperature
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
2 tsp vanilla
2 large egg yolks
6 large whole eggs

Instructions:

Begin with the crust.  Place baking shelf of oven in lower middle.  Set temperature to 325 degrees.  In a small bowl combine the sugar and graham crackers.  Add the 5 Tbsp melted butter and toss with fork till evenly moistened.  Brush bottom and sides of the 9" springform pan with melted butter.  Press graham mixture into bottom of pan distributing evenly.  Bake until fragrant and browning around the edges about 13 minutes.  Cool while making the filling.

For Filling: Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Using a standing mixer (this really will save you!) beat the cream cheese at medium low for about a minute+ to break up clumps.  Scrap the beater, side and bottom of the bowl well. Add the salt and half of the sugar, beat at medium low one minute, scrape bowl etc again.  Add remaining sugar, beat 1 minute, and scrape bowl.  Add the sour cream, lemon and vanilla.  Beat till combined, scrape bowl.  Add the egg yolks and blend until throughly combined, scrape away!  Add whole eggs two at a time, beating in between till thoroughly combined and you bet your gonna scrape that bowl between each addition!

Now brush the side of the pan with some more butter, and set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet.  Pour the filling into cooled crust, place in oven at 500 degrees and bake for 10 minutes.  Without opening the oven door, after the initial 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 200 degrees.  Continue to bake about an hour, until a thermometer inserted diagonally at the souffléd edge into center of cake registers 150 degrees after baking at 200 degrees for at least an hour.  (depending on your oven it may take up to 1 1/2 hours to reach the proper internal temperature, mine was less in this hot oven!)

Remove from oven, place on a wire rack.  Run a paring knife between the spring-form and cake while hot.  Cool until barely warm 2-3 hours.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

(p.s. I poured caramel sauce over it... and it is good that way!)