A Slice of New York in Woburn

New York Style Cheesecake

I recently spent a week in New York City on a business trip.  My fiancée asked me to bring home a slice of authentic New York style cheesecake. While I had the greatest intentions of doing so, I just couldn’t find the time or the space to carry back a delicate and delicious slice back with me to Boston. So what’s this Thoughtful Eats cook to do? Make some cheesecake herself of course!

There are a few tricks to making a really good cheesecake. You need some good equipment including a 9” springform pan, a casserole dish big enough to fit that pan for the water bath and a good handheld or standing mixer. You need a lot of cream cheese and some good vanilla. Most of all, you’ll need a whole lot of patience. The process is very long and you can’t skip any steps or shorten it unless you make no-bake cheesecake. If you have the tools and the patience, you can bring a slice of New York City into Woburn.

Ingredients:

5 8-oz packs of cream cheese, softened

1-1/2 cups of granulated sugar

5 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tsp (or 1 tbsp depending on taste) of good vanilla extract

½ cup of sour cream

3 tbsps of flour

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs

3 tbsps of extra light olive oil or canola oil (butter isn’t necessary but you can use it if you want)

Any topping you desire, we recommend using canned cherry filling or topping with fresh strawberry slices

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, add the cracker crumbs and oil. Mix with a spoon. Transfer mixture into the springform pan and press into the bottom. This is the crust. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese and sugar. Mix with a handheld or standing mixer until incorporated. Add eggs, vanilla, sour cream and flour and mix again until very very smooth. Make sure all the lumps have been worked out. Pour the mixture carefully into the springform pan and over the crust. Tap the pan a few times on a flat surface to get out any air bubbles.

Add the pan to your large casserole dish. Fill the dish with water until it comes half way up the side of the pan. Cover the top very lightly with tin foil. Place in the oven and cook for 1-1/2 hours.

After it’s cooked, remove the tin foil, shut off the oven and let sit in the closed oven for 20 minutes. Then remove from the oven and let sit on a counter top for 20 more minutes. Then place in the oven. This slow cooling process will help prevent cracks. If cracks do occur, don’t worry! You can smother the cheesecake with cherry sauce and no one will know the difference!

Cool in the fridge for a couple more hours or overnight. Remove from the fridge, take off the springform and top with your topping. Serve cold and enjoy!