Celebratory Cheesecake

It was Ben's birthday this week, which warranted something special! The cake itself was an easy decision as he prefers cheesecake. I used Chantal's New York Cheesecake recipe, which is my go-to, proven cheesecake recipe. The recipe produces one HUGE, weighty, calorific cheesecake, probably due to the 4 packages of cream cheese and 1 cup of sour cream it contains. This time around, I made 1 batch of the cheesecake mixture and divided the mixture between 12 mini cupcakes (baked in a regular muffin tin) and a large 9-inch cheesecake. As you can tell, there was just enough batter to go-around.

For the mini cheesecakes, I used muffin liners and pressed a small scoop of the graham cracker crumb crust into each muffin tin. Then I filled each muffin 3/4 full with cheesecake mixture and baked at the 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Easy peasy! (Tip: For even more easy-ness, instead of making a graham cracker crust, just use a Nilla wafer as the crust for each mini cheesecake.)

Cheesecake baking tips:

• Use ingredients that are at room temperature. 
• Do not over-beat cream cheese mixture as this will incorporate air into the batter, which causes the sunken, collapsed cheesecake syndrome. 
• Use a water bath when baking cheesecakes. Wrap the springform pan in aluminum foil (to prevent water getting into the pan), then place pan in large baking tray filled up halfway with hot water. 
• Bake until the center of the cheesecake is slightly wobbly to prevent overbaking/browning of the cheesecake. 
• Patience! Allow the cheesecake to cool in oven with the heat turned off for a few hours to prevent sinking cheesecakes.

New York Cheesecake
15 grahams crackers, crushed
2 tbsp. butter, melted

4 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour, sifted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine crushed graham crackers and melted butter, then press mixture onto bottom of springform pan.
3. In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, then eggs one at a time until just incorporated. Mix in sour cream, vanilla extract, and flour until smooth. Pour mixture into prepared pan. 
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until cheesecake is solid except with a jiggly center. Turn oven off and let cheesecake cool in oven for 5-6 hours (or overnight). Chill in refrigerator before serving. 
5. Decorating cheesecake ideas: 
1. Arrange sliced fruit on top of cheesecake and brush with sugar syrup glaze
2. Drizzle chocolate over cheesecake
3. Chocolate ganache topping

Cheesecake Base

Cutting the fruit toppings!

The finished look!

The view from up top