New York Style Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Shortbread Crust:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 6 Tbsp. cold butter
• 1 beaten egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Filling:

• 1 1/2 lbs. cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs

Topping:

• 1 pint sour cream
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Making a cheesecake requires a springform pan. Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

Crust:

preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Cut the butter in. Add the egg yolk and vanilla, and stir with a fork, working the dough into a nice ball.

Using 1/3 of the dough, cover the bottom of the springform pan only, pressing it down from the middle outward. It should be evenly about 1/8th inch thick. You should not have the sides on yet. Bake this portion for 7 minutes, or until just golden. Remove from the oven and cool.

When it's completely cool, butter the ring of the springform and put the pan together, and lock it. Press the remaining dough around the sides, making sure you over-lap it onto the bottom to insure a good seal. Do not bake until the filling is added.

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. With a mixer, blend the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla thoroughly, making sure there are no lumps at all. Add one egg at a time and beat well after each at low speed.

Pour this mixture into the pan. Bake 45 - 50 minutes until the sides pull away a little. The middle of the cake should still jiggle just a little - it will continue baking for awhile. Turn the oven off and open the oven door a little. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes.

Topping:

While cheesecake is cooling, mix the topping ingredients. Take the cake out of the oven and turn it on at 425 degrees F. Mix all the topping ingredients well, and spread them evenly over the top of the cake. Bake this for 5 minutes, no longer. Remove from oven and chill at least 6 hours or, preferably, over night.

Tips: You can add lemon flavoring to the cake if you prefer it. I don't like it, so I don't know how much you would add. I sometimes use almond flavoring, and top the cake with canned cherry pie filling once it has chilled.

Before you remove the sides from the pan, run a knife between the crust and the sides of the pan to make sure the crust doesn't stick to the sides and ruin the cake.

By Free2B from North Royalton, OH