Looking for the Ultimate Cheesecake Recipe
My husband is on a quest for a cheesecake recipe that spirits me away to the New York City delis of my youth. He's tried before, to no avail. This time I fear, if I don't help him along, I'll be eating cheesecake for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie.
My idea of cheesecake differs from his entirely. First, cheesecake should not have graham crackers, period. Graham crackers are for s'mores. Second, cheese cake should be moist, but not creamy. The texture should be drier, closer to the mouth feel of ricotta than of cream cheese.
I'd be happy with a ricotta cheesecake. (My favorite comes from the Florentine Bakery in Utica, New York where I grew up.) But for an authentic New York Cheesecake, I think we're looking for a recipe that calls for farmer cheese, a dry cottage cheese that I remember eating occasionally as a child. I haven't seen it in years.
As a starting point, my husband tried the Upstate Cheesecake recipe from Baked. But that recipe was as far away from my ideal, as Upstate is from Manhattan. If you have any suggestions, we're all ears!
Upstate Cheesecake
Ingredients:
For the simple graham crust:
2-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 20 crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick unsalted butter, softened
For the cream cheese filling:
40 ounces (five 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softened
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (from about 1 lemon)
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
Directions:
Make the simple graham crust:
1. Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Put the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a large bowl. Beat, by hand, until well combined. Press the mixture into the bottom and all the way up the sides of the prepared pan. Put in the refrigerator while you make the filling.
Make the cream cheese filling:
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Beat on medium speed until just combined, being careful not to overbeat (too much air can cause cheesecakes to crack). Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cream and beat until incorporated.
3. Pour the mixture into the chilled crust and bake for 10 minutes. Open the oven door to let out some heat, and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake until the cheesecake is set around the outside, but still slightly wobbly in the center, 45 minutes to 1 hour, rotating the pan every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread the sour cream over the top of the cheesecake. Return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Turn off the heat, crack the oven door, and let the cheesecake cool completely in the oven (about 1 hour).
4. Chill the cheesecake in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, loosen the sides of the crust from the pan with an offset spatula, then remove the springform sides and serve.
Yield: 1 (8-inch) cake
Baked, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2008
--Tracy Schneider
DrGaellon on October 27, 2009 at 04:27 AM
1. Friendship Dairy still makes Farmer's Cheese; look for it in the deli case in Jewish neighborhoods.
2. What you're looking for is an ITALIAN-STYLE (or cassata) cheesecake. NEW YORK STYLE cheesecake is creamy and has a graham cracker crust by definition.
Leslie on October 27, 2009 at 06:34 AM
At work, so I don't have my recipes. But, when baking a cheescake, it helps to put a pan of water in the oven along with the cake. That keeps the cheesecake from drying out while baking.
Marcy on October 27, 2009 at 10:07 AM
I'm thrilled to see you searching for exactly the kind of cheesecake I remember from my childhood. You're exactly right, moist, but not creamy. I've talked about this kind of cheesecake for years, but no one believes me. They all think that creamy Sara Lee stuff is cheesecake. While I don't hate Sara Lee, it is not my idea of cheesecake. Farmer's cheese is an interesting thought. There is a recipe in the 1961 NYT Craig Claiborne cookbook for cheesecake made with cottage cheese that you put through a fine sieve. Unfortunately, I have never made it. It's the cup of sour cream that worries me. I think it will make it creamier than we're looking for. But perhaps the six egg whites folded in at the end gives it that kind of souffle texture, moist, but not creamy. I don't know. I hope it helps. I'll have to try it myself. If you find a recipe that works, please post it on your site.
1 6 oz pkg swieback
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 lbs cottage cheese
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teas salt
6 eggs separated
1 cup sour cream
Rind and juice of one lemon
Strawberry glaze. (see below)
Preheat oven 325
Roll zwieback into fine crumbs. Grease a nine inch spring form pan and dust the sides with zwieback crumbs. Mix the remaining crumbs with the one quarter cup of sugar and the butter and press onto bottom of the pan. Bake five minutes. Cool.
Press the cottage cheese through a fine sieve. Add half the remaining sugar, the flour, salt, egg yolks, sour cream, lemon rind and juice. Whip until thoroughly blended.
Beat egg whites until stiff, adding the remaining sugar gradually. Fold into cheese mixture.
Turn the mixture into prepared pan, bake at 325 about one and one half hours. cool in pan and glaze as directed.
Strawberry glaze.
1 quart strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon butter
Wash and hull berries. Crush enough berries to make one half cup
Boil the crushed berries, sugar, water, and cornstarch two minutes, stirring. Add the butter, strain and cool
Arrange the whole berries over the top of the cheescake and pour the glaze over the berries. Chill.
Tracy Schneider on October 27, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Marcy, we'll try your recipe this weekend. I'm thrilled to find one that doesn't call for cream cheese! It may be just what I'm looking for!
Leslie, thanks for the tip!
Dr. Gaellon, if you have a great cassata recipe, feel free to share it! We'll give it a try.
Belle and Ward on October 27, 2009 at 03:13 PM
Ward recently made a green tea cheesecake (I think he's going to post it later this week) - not traditional, but a nice change when you're not wanting anything too sweet! ~ Belle