Ya Ya Cheesecake

Some of you may know, some of you may not.
Rumors of a mafia of sorts in Holmes County
Run by women.

It's a scary thought - No, not the mafia itself. More scary is the fact that the women who are in this group.

I am not sure who the Capofamiglia (the "Godfather" - or Godmother in this case) is

But I know one thing - when one of the group approaches you and tells you in no uncertain terms that it is time to update the blog - you listen.

Things could get ugly if you don't obey the Ya-Ya's.
(What they would do, you ask - I've heard they torture you with talking - I've seen it done - it aint pretty - grown men fall to their knees, dogs turn tail and run, cream pies liquify from the intensity of the sound waves)

So... Cheesecake. Who doesnt love it? Ok - so my wife doesnt really like it, but this recipe she does like and it works pretty much every time.

The ingredients:
One child who is drinking Silly Lemonade (no clue)

















One drink and it makes you laugh - "like crazzzzzzzzzzzzy!"

One springform pan
For the crust:
Choose your bottom - i did a brownie crust - made some prepackaged brownie mix and coated the bottom on my springform pan & baked it for about 15 minutes - then placed in fridge to cool.
You could do graham crackers, crumbled Oreos, etc.
To make the crust take about 4 oz of cracker and mash em in the food processor - then add 1 stick of melted butter - mix thoroughly and the pack into the bottom of pan (you can even come up the sides a bit.
Bake it blind (nothing in it!) for 10 minutes at 350 - then stick in fridge to cool.

Set thine oven to 250 degrees.

Have a pan that is big enough for the springform pan to fit inside available (for the water bath - this is CRUCIAL!)

24 oz of cream cheese ( thats three 8 oz packages)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup (8 0z) sour cream
6 oz of heavy cream (or sweetened cond milk) - thats about 3/4 cup
2 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp vanilla extract



(Note: later I melted some chocolate and drizzled it on the top. Also note that the little one LOVES this dark chocolate - I knew she had sophisticated taste!)





Mix all of cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar in stand mixer
Mix until the cream cheese is smooth, scraping down the sides, about twice.



















Meanwhile, ranch at the back, whisk your eggs and egg yolk together.
Add vanilla and sour cream.
Stir in the cream (or cond milk).

Once that is integrated, SLOWLY add this egg/sour cream mix to the cream cheese.
I did mine in about 3 installments.
Wrap aluminum foil around your springform pan (not making water cheesecake)

Once smooth and creamy, pour the batter into the aluminum foil wrapped pan that has the bottom of your choice in it.


Place in center of the pan

Place warm water in the pan at least halfway up the side of the springform
(Yes, my water bath pan should be bigger - but all my larger pans were taken for Creative Memory purposes!)

Place entire contraption in oven at 250 degrees for 1 hour.

To quote Alton Brown:
"During this time you will not:
Open the door
Touch the door
Mess with the door in any way"

After one hour, turn the oven off. Open the door and look at the cheesecake.

Doesnt look done, does it?
No worries - close the door and leave it in the oven (oven off) for another hour.
See quote from Alton Brown again.
The slower you coast to the final set point of the cheesecake the creamier it will be.


Take the cheesecake out from the oven and place in fridge for 4 hours minimum.
Take a small knife around edge of cheesecake to free its edges from springform pan.
Remove pan's side.
Cut the cheesecake with a hot knife (run it under hot H20).
Serve.
Eat.
Repeat.

Cheesecake fit for any Ya-Ya, if I say so myself.

I did say I'll talk about pressure cooking sometime - and I will...