Mom’s Best Cheesecake Recipe
Cheesecake, the Ultimate comfort food
I love a great cheesecake.
Cheesecake dates way back to the first Olympic games held in 776 B.C. on the Isle of Delos, where small cheesecakes were served to the athletes during the games. Now I don’t know How they know this but apparently they do. These were not the sweet smooth treats we have today but a loaf of cheese flour and eggs.
Today we have thousands of cheesecake flavors in basically two styles; New York Style and Philadelphia Style. Try to find a definitive answer to the difference and you will get as many answers as questions is what I have concluded. To Sum it up, Philadelphia-style cheesecake is lighter in texture, yet richer in flavor than New York style cheesecakes. Some take huge amounts o
f cream cheese making them a very expensive dessert to make, some require long baking times making them a pain to even think of making because there are just not enough hours in today’s times. I honestly don’t know what my mom’s recipe was except she had it written in pencil on
the back of a business sized envelope and I remember as a kid- the warning was : “DON’T lose my cheesecake recipe!” – I still have her original, but have copied it hundreds of times in fear of ever losing it. She told me it was a recipe her mom had from the 1930’s when she was a kid during the depression.
This is not about fat free desserts or worry over cholesterol – it’s about making a cheesecake that will melt in your mouth and have your guests talking about it for weeks on end and doing it all in less than 40 minutes start to finish.
Let’s Celebrate with my Mom’s Best Recipe for Cheesecake
You will need a good graham cracker crust – I prefer to make mine (for this recipe don’t add cinnamon to the crust, it will take away from the flavor of the cheesecake)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs; 2 TBSP sugar; 1/3 cup melted butter
Add the sugar to the crumbs, mix well and then into the melted butter, toss with a fork until crumbly- pour into a 10 or 11 inch pie pan and press on bottom and sides – bake at 350 for 10 minutes – cool
Cheesecake Filling:
2 8oz packages of Philadelphia cream cheese (store brands are not as creamy)
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
2 eggs beaten
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla
Cheesecake Topping:
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
With an electric mixer, blend softened cream cheese until creamy. Do not over beat as you do not want to incorporate too much air into the mix! Add sugar, vanilla and lemon juice – blend in well – add the 2 beaten eggs – beat until ther
e are no lumps – you will have to scrape the sides of the bowl and re-blend to get it smooth. Pour into cooled crust- bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes,
the sides of the cheesecake will look dull but the center will be slightly soft – remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes. Mix the sour cream with lemon juice, sugar and vanilla, until smooth and gently spoon on the top of the cooled cheesecake- (if you do not wait the sour cream topping may make holes in the delicate cheesecake filling ) use the back of the spoon to spread almost to the edge of the crust. Bake for an additional 10 minutes at 350- – remove from oven to cool and place in the refrigerator over night is best but for at least 10 hours o allow the cheesecake to fully set. There you go – without a doubt the Best cheesecake you will ever eat – no fancy toppings, no additional sauces – no need for whipping cream- simple and sinfully delicious.