New York-style cheesecake recipe
A long time ago, back when I was barely starting out on my first backpacking adventure, I ate my very first piece of cheesecake while attending a smarchmoot in N'awlins, and became an instant fan. During my travels, I made a point of it to continue looking for this heavenly dish. Yet upon returning home, I discovered that the sad knowledge which had been mine already was in fact true: there was no cheesecake in the Netherlands. (This is no longer true, as more and more cafes and restaurants and people seem to have discovered cheesecake, but it was still true a couple of years ago.) During one particularly long stretch between travels, I finally cracked down and searched the great untamed wilderness of the intertubes for cheesecake recipes. I found many, and cobbled together my own from them all based on feedback from other people on those recipes and trying out things myself. Having baked nearly a score of cheesecakes, I'm getting close to perfecting the result (my own cheesecakes are currently in the top five of best cheesecakes I've ever eaten, if still a long way away from those first places). More and more, the people who visit me (who I seize upon as an excuse for baking cheesecakes) are asking me for my recipe. Since it's a cobbled together recipe, I've disappointed them so far, but last month finally promised to go and write it all out. Herewith the result. (Those who're not interested in a detailed step-by-step guide to baking a cheesecake, written by someone who has otherwise zero experience with baking anything elaborate, can go and read an interview with me about travel, or search the intertubes for funny cat pictures, whichever you prefer.) ;pThere are many cakes, pies and desserts throughout this world which are called "cheesecake" (or a translated form thereof). A lot of them have very little in common with a lot of the other kinds. For me, the one true cheesecake (that is, the yummiest kind) is the incredibly rich and dense "New York-style" baked cheesecake, and so this is what I'll mean when I talk about cheesecake.
I'll use metric units in this recipe. If you're one of those silly people who use imperial units, do your own conversions. :) Since it's mostly Dutch people who're asking me for this recipe, I'll also name the Dutch words for all the ingredients.
Ingredients for the crust:
* 190 gram flour (tarwebloem)
* 60 gram sugar (kristalsuiker)
* 1 egg (ei)
* 125 gram unsalted butter (roomboter)
* 4 gram vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (vanillesuiker)
Ingredients for the filling:
* 1100-1150 gram cream cheese; e.g. Kraft Philadelphia Natural Cream Cheese (Philadelphia Naturel)
* 350 gram sugar (kristalsuiker)
* 25 gram flour (tarwebloem)
* 5 eggs (ei)
* 20-40 milliliters whipping cream (slagroom)
* 4 gram vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (vanillesuiker)
* 2 gram baking powder / corn starch (bakpoeder / maiszetmeel)
Other necessities:
* Large (at least 3 liters, preferably 5 liters or more) mixing bowl
* Medium mixing bowl (for mixing the ingredients for the crust; optional since you could use the large mixing bowl for this as well)
* Springform pan with a 23-25 centimeter diameter (bakvorm)
* Baking pan, large enough to hold the springform pan, with a rim at least 5 centimeters high (ovenschaal)
* Aluminium foil (aluminiumfolie)
* Mixer
* Spray oil (probably optional, if you coat the springform with butter instead) (bakspray)
* Large spoon (pot ladle) for scraping the filling out of the large mixing bowl
Preheat the oven at 200°C. Coat the inside of the springform pan with spray oil. Knead the ingredients for the crust in the medium mixing bowl until they form a ball. Flatten this (with a dough roller if available; coat it lightly in flour first to avoid the batter sticking to it) and transfer to the springform pan, covering the entire bottom, but reaching up only a short way along the rim. (One problem I have here is that it's slightly too much ingredients for the 23cm springform I have, leading to a too thick crust; the sides also keep falling down upon baking if I make them reach too high. I'll probably try using 10-20% less of the butter and flour next time. (The ratio butter/flour needs to stay the same though, otherwise the batter will be too sticky, or not sticky enough.)) Prick little holes with a fork throughout to allow the heat to reach it more uniformly and not be trapped underneath. Bake for 15 minutes at 200°C, then take out of the oven to cool.
While the crust is baking and then cooling down, mix together the ingredients for the filling in the large mixing bowl. (If you were stubborn and didn't get a really large mixing bowl here, you'll now have a kitchen covered in bits of cream cheese.) :) Only add the eggs and whipping cream at the last as they trap air. As soon as the mix has a consistent texture (ideally slightly runny, but not completely liquid), stop mixing. (You could probably leave out the baking powder and/or whipping cream without noticing much of any difference in the end result. Also, the number of eggs and amount of sugar is up for experimentation; some people think this particular mix is too sweet, while others think it could stand to be a bit sweeter still. I'd be interested in hearing opinions and results of experimentation. I've also been pondering adding significantly more vanilla sugar to see what this would do to the taste.)
When the crust comes out of the oven, increase oven temperature to 250°C. Boil 1-1.5 liters of water.
Wrap aluminium foil around the bottom and sides of the springform pan (once it's cooled off enough that you can touch it). Place it in the baking pan and pour the boiling water around it (up to half the height of the rim of the baking pan). (This makes a Bain-marie, which prevents the cheesecake from cracking.) Having the pot ladle at hand, pour and scrape the cream cheese mix into the springform pan. Place the baking pan (with springform pan holding the cheesecake) in the oven, and bake for 15-18 minutes at 250°C. (Make certain you're not using a circulating "hot air" mode, as this will blacken the top of the cheesecake within a minute. Instead, after 15-18 minutes the top of the cheesecake should just start to get very faintly brown.) As soon as you notice the top of the cheesecake getting faintly brown (if you're still doubting if it's really happening, that's already good enough), but no later than at 18 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven to 100°C. Bake at 100°C for 75 minutes. (These times and temperatures matter a lot for the solidity of the cheesecake; they're correct for my oven, but if your cheesecake comes out not solid enough, experiment with increasing them slightly.) Turn off the oven, but don't open it. Leave the cheesecake standing in the still warm oven for another 60 minutes, then open the oven and let the cheesecake cool down to room temperature. Once the cheesecake is at room temperature, take it out of the oven, remove the aluminium foil from around the springform pan, dry off the underside of the springform pan (careful not to drop it or hold it sideways) :) and place it in the fridge. Leave the cheesecake standing in the fridge for at least 48 hours; 72 hours would be better, 24 hours is an absolute minimum (but really, you'll want to go for the 72 hours: this is what allows the taste to be as good as it is (it reaches its absolute best after roughly a week in the fridge, but is already at 95% after 72 hours)).
Be careful not to serve too large slices; this cheesecake in incredibly filling, and can easily serve 16 people.
Enjoy!