Easy Delicious Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray 8 or 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray
Crust: 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (9 whole crackers/1 sleeve)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

8 Tbs (1 stick unsalted butter)

Pinch salt

Mix together and spread in bottom and slightly up sides of springform pan.

Bake 10 minutes at 325 degrees.

Let cool 5-10 minutes before adding filling.

Cheesecake Filling:

4 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs1/4 cup sour cream

2 Tbs cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

Whip softened cream cheese and sugar together, scraping sides of bowl to incorporate all the cream cheese.

Add in eggs one at a time and mix well.

Add sour cream, cornstarch, vanilla and lemon juice and mix well, scraping sides as needed.

Pour into crust and bake 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees.

Cool for 30 minutes on baker’s rack before transferring to refrigerator to chill (Most recipes say 2-4 hours. I say chill it as long as you have time to before you need to dig in.)

If using the water bath method: (The reason for this method is to keep the top from cracking and so less browning will occur as the water helps the cheesecake to bake evenly and deeply without the top getting overly done before the center sets.)

Pour filling into crust.

Wrap bottom of ban with aluminum foil tightly to the top of the pan.

Set springform pan in larger pan with deep sides.

Fill larger pan with boiling water until it is halfway up sides of springform pan.

Place in oven and bake 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees.

Cool as above.

Eat it!

Or top it with freezer jam you’ve warmed up a bit, or fruit you’ve cut up, or chocolate ganache you’ve made or salted caramel syrup you’ve bought. Or don’t top it. Enjoy by itself.

Just enjoy.

The story behind the recipe

I imagine a decadent treat like cheesecake was pretty much unheard of by my parents. It’s not that they were unlearned. They and their parents were smart people. They read newspapers and listened to the radio when they could get it to tune in. But they lived in a small town in Arkansas circa 1940s and 50s, and days were spent by both families just trying to make a living. So new desserts that took and hour or more to make just weren’t on the radar.

They enjoyed sweet things and both my grandmothers could whip up a mean pie. But things like soufflé and cherries jubilee and such that were on the realm in other worlds like New York and Chicago and LIttle Rock had not made the journey to dessert plates in small town Arkansas. 

When my dad was in the Army, he had culinary adventures with foods he’d never seen – and most of which he did not like – such as spaghetti and meatballs. And when my mom had moved to California, she saw all kinds of foods she’d never seen before, like pecans and walnuts that were shelled and ready to purchase for pies or what have you.  This made her a bit adventurous and so when my sisters and I were little, she shared this flare for extravagance and bestowed upon us a cheesecake. Now mind you, it was the boxed Jell-O no bake variety. But delicious it was, nonetheless. And it was a special treat to see that boxed mix come home in a brown paper Piggly Wiggly bag. It meant a break from the old ordinary things she made like chocolate meringue pie, or fresh apple cake with sugar sauce, or homemade shortcake with strawberries my dad had picked or peaches he’d gotten from the local produce man. Plain old ordinary things, that I had no idea at the time were anything but. Things that I and anyone with any sense would love to sink their teeth into now.

That Jell-O no bake cheesecake was quick and simple and delicious and we loved it. So when I got old enough, I decided I wanted to make a real cheesecake. And she bought me the ingredients to do so. She had to do this quite a few times as the first few were not good – not good at all.

But now I have this trusty cheesecake recipe. It is decadent and delicious. And it is a good stand-in for when your local grocery may be out of the Jell-O no bake variety.