Is there anything more iconic than a New York Cheesecake? This classic dish has the perfect balance of sweetness, with a melt-in-your mouth texture that’s bound to please even the pickiest of eaters. Top with fresh whipped cream and assorted berries for the perfect homemade dessert! What’s your favorite flavor of cheesecake?
Classic New York Style Cheesecake
Equipment
- 9" springform pan
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (170g)
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (99g)
Cheesecake Filling
- 32 oz full-fat cream cheese, room temp get the block style, they should come in 8 oz packages
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 4 large eggs, room temp
- 2/3 cup sour cream, room temp (160g)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- If you haven't crushed your graham crackers yet, you can either use a food processor (though make sure not to accidentally pulverize them straight into a powder, you want crumbs!) or put the graham crackers into a large plastic bag and go to town with a rolling pin or something like a heavy book. Just take your time, you don't want to leave any too-large cracker chunks among your crumbs.
- Once ready, mix the crumbs in a large bowl with the sugars, and then add the melted butter and stir to combine with a rubber spatula. When fully mixed, it should resemble a consistency like wet gravel or rough dirt. Pour the cracker mix into your springform pan, and using your hands, spread it out and push it up the sides, doing your best to keep it as even as possible, and firmly pressing it into the pan on the bottom and the sides. There's no need to grease the pan ahead of time, as there's plenty of butter in the crust. Once done, set aside as you prepare the filling.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the softened cream cheese. Beat on medium speed, scraping down the sides as necessary, just until the cream cheese is smooth and creamy, you're essentially just breaking up the 4 blocks of cream cheese and getting it nice and smooth as one large bowl of cream cheese.
- With the beater on medium speed, add the sugar slowly and continue to mix until smooth and creamy again.
- Add the sour cream, vanilla, and salt, and mix to combine, again scraping down the sides as necessary. Make sure you scrape up the bottom of the bowl too, sometimes the mixer attachment doesn't quite reach the bottom of the bowl and bits of cream cheese can get stuck there and remain unmixed. Stop mixing once everything is smooth and evenly mixed.
- Next you will be adding the eggs. I recommend cracking them one at a time into a small bowl, and using a fork to lightly beat the egg, before adding it, as you want to add them one at a time. Place the mixer on low speed, and add eggs one at a time, adding the next one as soon as the mix is smooth from the previous one. Once all the eggs are added, again scrape the bowl to make sure everything is as smooth as possible; cheesecake lives and dies by that consistency!
- Once your mix is nice and smooth, pour it into your prepped pan with the graham cracker crust, and place on a baking sheet lined with foil, in case of leaks–no cheesecake is worth that oven cleanup.
- Bake on the center rack of your oven for 65-75 minutes. The edges will have puffed up somewhat, and will have started to turn a light golden brown. It's ok if the edges have cracked away from the sides when puffing up, as it won't be noticeable once the cheesecake cools. When poking the center (gently) it should spring back, but still be very jiggly.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes at room temp, and then using a sharp knife, carefully run it around the sides to help release the sides away from the pan (BUT LEAVE IT IN THE PAN!) Continue letting it cool until room temp or near room temp, and then refrigerate in the pan for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Once chilled, it should be easily removable from the pan.
- Enjoy!
