The Art of Cheesecake Timing

In case you ever wondered why people say making a cheesecake is difficult, it's not the actual mixing part (although my elbow is a bit sore, and I am extremely jealous of those with the huge Kitchen Aid mixers that come in all the fun colors.) In fact, (in my opinion) the difficulty in making cheesecake is all in the timing.

As promised, this week I baked 100% from scratch. The challenge: New York Style Cheesecake.

The recipe I based my cheesecake on came from my go-to recipe bible, a gift from my brother a few holidays back:

If you'd like to buy this book for yourself, click here!

They really mean it when they say "best recipe." Everything in this book has been tested time and time again until the authors/contributors feel that the it can no longer be improved upon. It also has a bunch of handy tips like how to properly cut up a whole chicken, and how to pick a good wok or a Dutch oven. (And, yes, I am aware that the internet exists and probably has lots of similarly useful information. But I stand by my case nonetheless.)

Anywhoo, done with the impromptu book promotion. On to cheesecake!

As I alluded to before, the actual preparing of the cheesecake contents are not the difficult part, although whipping up cream cheese with nothing but a fork certainly takes a bit of elbow grease, but that's part of the fun. The tricky part of cheesecake is getting the balance of timing and temperature just right. The steps come down to: mixing, medium temperature baking, cooling, mixing, filling, high temperature baking, low temperature baking/resting, room temperature resting/cooling, chilling and room temperature resting again. I had a minor slip up, as you'll see below, but nothing catastrophic. What I would consider to be "true" baking time for this dish only adds up to about 25 minutes, but the entire process takes hours. So let's dive in!

Ingredients:
Crust:
6  tablespoons unsalted butter. (5 tablespoons of which are to be melted, 1 tablespoon of which is to be divided, melted, and used for the pan)
8  whole graham crackers (4 oz), broken into rough pieces and processed in a food processor to fine, even crumbs.
1  tablespoon sugar

Filling:
2 1/2  pounds (five 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, cut into rough 1-inch chunks, at room temperature
1/8  teaspoon salt
1 1/2  cups (10.5 oz) sugar
1/3  cup sour cream
2  teaspoons lemon juice
8 eggs (6 whole eggs, and 2 egg yolks) at room temperature

2 Notes:
1) To make cheesecake, you really need a springform pan. Otherwise, you'll have a lot of trouble getting your slices out because the crust is only on the bottom of the pan. You don't need a fancy one. I bought a simple nonstick one at the local grocery store and it works great.
2) Because the creators of this cookbook are so thorough, I won't be able to fit the whole recipe (all the added descriptions and tips) into one blog post. But I'll be sure to include the essentials and the big tips/lessons/simple mistakes of note. If that's not enough for you, then buy the darn book!


Directions:

Making the crust:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat to 325 F.
2. Brush the bottom and sides of the springform pan with 1/2 teaspoon melted butter.
3. After turning your graham crackers into what appears to be graham cracker sand in the food processor (or blender, if you don't have a food processor -- and if you have neither I suppose a ziplock bag, a rolling pin and/or filled water bottle and some patience will do) combine with the sugar in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. 
4. Add the melted butter to the graham cracker-sugar mixture and mix with a fork until completely evenly moistened.
5. Empty the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and press evenly into the bottom of the pan using a spoon or the flat bottom of a drinking glass.
6. Bake crust in the oven until fragrant and beginning to brown around the edges, about 13 minutes. (Mine never got very brown around the edges, but I took it out at 15 minutes to be safe. And it was plenty fragrant at that point.)
7. Cool on a wire rack while making the filling. (I decided to start making the filling while the crust was cooking, and I think it was a good idea. This is especially true since the timing in the recipe book counts on you owning an electric mixer. My electric mixer: a fork and some elbow grease.)

Making the filling:

1. Increase the oven temperature to 500 F.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a standing electric mixer (pick a heavy bowl if you're hand mixing like I was, because it'll be more stable and thus easier to work with when you're mixing up the tough cream cheese) beat cream cheese at a medium-low speed to soften it slightly, approx. 1 min. 
3. The book repeats 2 things with the addition of each ingredient, or portion of ingredient, 1) that mixing with an electric mixer will take approximately 1 minute, and 2) to scrape the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula . I'm not writing that 12 times, so from now on, assume each addition includes "and mix thoroughly, approx. 1 min, and scrape the sides of bowl" at the end.
4. Add the salt and about half of the sugar (I did the sugar in thirds, 1/2 cup at a time) and mix.
5. Add the rest of the sugar...
6. Add the sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice...
7. Add the egg yolks...
8. Add the remaining 6 whole eggs (2 at a time, mixing & scraping between each addition)

The baking/low baking/cooling/chilling/resting process:

1. Brush the sides of the (now cooled) springform pan with the reaiming 1/2 tablespoon of melted butter.
2. Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any spills or potential pan leakage.) (I didn't do this, and it wasn't a problem, but it's probably a good idea.)
3. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and bake for 10 minutes. (I baked it for 10 minutes, and the top turned really brown, too brown in my opinion, so be sure to watch this step of the process like a hawk, but DON'T open the oven door. They're very big on stressing that fact.)
4. After 10 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 200 F, without opening the oven door, and continue to bake until the cheesecake temp reads about 150 F with an instant read thermometer. Approximately 1.5 hours. (I never stuck the thermometer in, I just pulled it out after 90 mins, 'cause it was bedtime and, frankly, I didn't feel like waiting any longer.) ;)
5. Transfer cake to a wire rack and cool until barely warm, 2.5 to 3 hours. (I went to bed, it cooled on the wire rack overnight. I put a cloth over top of it to make myself feel better, and because that's what they always did in cartoons. Tomorrow we'll see if the long-term room temperature cooling affected the texture at all.)
6. Run a paring knife between the cake and the pan sides. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours. (The cheesecake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
7. After it was cooled, I added sliced strawberries to the top. I had always planned to do this, but now it was especially important because the top of mine didn't look pretty due to the uneven browning that occurred during baking. I pressed each strawberry onto the cheesecake, hoping that this will help it stick as it cooled overnight tonight.
8. To unmold the cheesecake, remove the sides of the pan. Slide a thin metal spatula between teh crust and the bottom of the pan to loosen, then slide the cake onto a serving plate. Let the cheesecake stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then cut into wedges (it's best to use a sharp knife that you rinse with hot water and wipe between each slice, to get the best slices.)
9. Bon Appetit!

I haven't actually tried the cheesecake yet, because I'm bringing it in to work tomorrow, so I'll have to update on the taste test then. For now, you'll have to live with these fine photos:

Overly-browned cheesecake top. :(

 

Magical strawberry solution!

Until tomorrow, my friends...