Basic Cheesecake

By FoodPornDirector

This recipe is enough for a 10 inch springform pan. If you use a 9-inch pan then you may want to halve the recipe.

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 4 tbs sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• Cheesecake:
• 48 oz cream cheese (3 lb brick)
• 2 Cup Sugar
• 10 Large Eggs
• 2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean

Details

Servings 12
Cooking time 210mins

Preparation

Step 1

Crust:
Mix all ingredients together until it resembles wet sand. Pour into springform pan and press to compact the crust. You can use a cocktail glass for this, the bottom flat part works well. Bake in oven at 325 for 10-15 min. Let cool and prep for filling.

Cheesecake:
1. Beat together cream cheese and sugar

2. Beat in eggs one at a time.

3. Beat in vanilla and vanilla bean

4. Pour batter into pan and bake @ 250 F for 3 hours (cheesecake is done when it is jiggly like jello but not if you see it wobble like a waterbed.)

Prep tips:
Vanilla can be scraped off the bean using the sugar if desired. This will help in making it easier to remove fibers and also ensures getting more of the vanilla seeds out. Graham crackers can be crushed to a more coarse texture which helps in better binding to the cheesecake.

The key in producing a nice uncracked cheesecake is to ensure even heating done slowly. After a temp of 160, the cheesecake will rise suddenly and result in cracking. Water bath technique also helps in even heating, but you should turn up temp to about 300 if doing so.

Variation:
Sour cream topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
4 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Praline sauce:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Do not heat praline sauce too high or else it will become like candy.

For passion fruit - mango:
2 cups of passion fruit puree simmered down to half. Add to cheesecake batter. Or if using passion fruit compound add 1 cup. Add slice mangoes on top.

Strawberries - can be added with fruit glaze