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After a bunch of trial and error making the perfect New York Style cheesecake, I finally got this one.  My father-in-law asked, “This is really good cheesecake.  Did you get this from Cheesecake Factory?”

I call this Best New York Style Cheesecake, because it is!

My primary advice:  use a springform pan when baking cheesecake, otherwise it will be difficult to slice it up when serving.

Warning though, this dessert brings a guilty pleasure.  Eat with moderation.

This makes 2 (9-inch) batch of cheesecake. Reduce the ingredient to half when making only one batch.  I made this plenty because this was for my husband’s birthday bash, and he loves cheesecake.

Now let’s start:

Ingredients:

For the crust:

4 cups finely crushed graham crackers, or you can use ginger snaps; oreo cracker with no fillings and vanilla wafers.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling: the ingredients for the filling below is good for 2 batches (use of 2 springform pans).  If you are using a standard-sized mixer, you may divide each ingredient below to half.

8 (8-oz) cream cheese at room temperature (full fat recommended)

2 cups granulated white sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour (unpacked, leveled)

10 large eggs at room temperature

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp lemon zest (about 6 lemons)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Sour cream topping:

1 lb full fat sour cream

1/3 cup granulated white sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

This recipe calls for 2 springform pans.

Preheat oven at 350F. Spray or smear with a soft bar of butter each 9-inch springform pan.

Preparing the crust:

I recommend using a food processor.  If you are using a big one, simply drop in the crackers and pulse it until it is finely crumb.  If your food processor is smaller, you may want to crumb first the crackers into smaller pieces using your hands and drop it to the processor, then pulse until fine.  If you do not have any, just put it in a clean plastic bag, seal and place over a plate then crumb by rolling over it a thick mug until they are very fine.

Put the prepared crumbs in a medium bowl and mix in sugar and melted butter.  Mix well.  You can use spatula in doing this.

Pour in half of the crumbs into 1 springform pan, and pour in the rest to the other. Distribute the crumbs evenly in the bottom of the springform and press tightly.  Refrigerate while you make the filling.

The Filling:

1. Since I used a standard size electric mixer, I could only process half of each ingredient, which makes 1 batch of cheesecake.  So here you will mix in 4 cream cheese, 1 cup granulated white sugar and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour.  Beat until smooth at medium speed at maximum of 2 minutes. Make sure your mixture is not clumpy, which may cause cracking. Overbeating may also cause your cheesecake to crack when baked.
2. Adding eggs.  When adding your eggs, break each one first in a separate, small clean bowl.  Just to make sure that is a good egg, otherwise you could be wasting your first ingredients. Add in eggs one at a time.  Mix well by beating as long as 30 seconds, but not more than it.  If it is already well mixed up before 30 seconds, that’s alright. Scrape down the sides after each mix.  Pull out some mixture stuck in the mixer/beater so it will be easier to mix up the ingredients again.
3. Add 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 tablespoon (about 3 lemons) lemon zest and 1 tsp vanilla.  Mix well (about 1 minute or 2).
4. Get the crusted springform pan from the refrigerator.  Put it over a wider baking sheet (to catch its mess while baking).  Pour in this pan your cream cheese mixture.  Level with a spatula.  Set aside while preparing the next batch, which won’t take long, otherwise put the first mixture back to the refrigerator.
5. For second batch: Repeat the steps for Filling from 1 to 4 using the rest half of each ingredient.

Baking and Preparing the Topping

1. Position your bottom oven rack at least 7 inches away from the bottom.  Bake your prepared cheesecake for 20 minutes at 350F.  If you are making only one, bake for 15 minutes.
2. Reduce temperature to 250F.  After 30 minutes, change the position of your cheesecake (put the one in top to the bottom, bottom to the top).  Continue baking up to 1 hour.  Remove from oven.  Your cheesecake may look moist and soft in the middle.
3. Now prepare the sour cream topping.  Combine all of sourcream, granulated white sugar, and vanilla extract.  Mix well using a spatula.  Spoon will work well too. Divide the topping into two and spread it evenly over each warm cheesecake.  Spatula will work well on this.
4. Return to oven with the position changed again.  Bake for 20 more minutes, 15 if making only 1 batch.

Storing your Cheesecake

1. Let cool and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Carefully remove sides of springform pan by pushing its bottom up.  If you will serve this the next day, keep its bottom and put it over a big plate then refrigerate uncovered.  Do not cover this with plastic wrap.  It will stick on your cheesecake and it will not look good.  Same thing will happen even when using wax paper.
2. Return to refrigerator and serve the next day.
3. Repeat step 1 of cooling above.  Remove bottom by sliding it to a bigger plate (bigger or same size from bottom of springform pan), or a hard cardboard wrapped with aluminum foil.  Freeze uncovered for 30 minutes.  Wrap with heavy duty aluminum foil, or if you have the regular kind, wrap it doubled.  Do not freeze more than 1 month.
4. Thaw overnight.

To serve, top with cherry or blueberry in syrup.  I love topping both of them.