It’s here. The long-awaited cheesecake post. I’ve had a lot of requests for this one. But I dedicate this to Mr. FBBQ’s friend, Ralph, who requested “more dessert posts.” Sorry it’s not pumpkin a’la something French, Ralph!
This is one of the most non-vegan items I make (and eat). I don’t consider myself full vegan. I do eat cheese on occasion. But I rarely eat other dairy items. I’ve found I prefer oat or almond milk to actual milk. I use Earth Balance plant-based butter. You get the idea. But all that goes out the window for The Cheesecake.
I decided to make this for two reasons. One, because Ralph requested a dessert post. Two, because i was involved in a discussion with some co-workers about cutting back on sugar consumption (something I and they struggle with) and one of them mentioned cheesecake. I, of course, had to brag about my cheesecake. It really is the best cheesecake I’ve ever had. So, I promised them I would make them one. Which is exactly what I did, only to return to work on Monday and find out they were both off for a week!! So, I had to make a second one. On the second one, I tried something different. The mixture for this cheesecake always ends up overflowing over the edge of the pan and the crust and it burns or browns. I decided to make two cheesecakes from one batch, one big cheesecake (same size I normally do with less filling), and one smaller one (using the remainder of the filling). This worked out quite well and will be my go-to from now on. There is a picture of the smaller cheesecake from the second bake at the end of this post.
Let’s get started! We need 5 bricks of cream cheese, one cup of sour cream, graham crackers (original, not honey), sugar (lots and lots of sugar), vanilla, a very small amount of flour, 4 eggs, and some butter.
We will start by making the crust. Use a rolling pin to crush the graham crackers to a fine texture. I put them in a large ziplock bag to do this. Then add sugar to the graham crackers. Melt the butter. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the graham-sugar mix into your pie dish, add the butter gradually, mixing it into the graham cracker crust. Use a spoon to flatten out the crust on the bottom and up the sides for your cheesecake crust. Bake the crust for 10 minutes in the oven.
Next, we will make the cheesecake filling. Mr. FBBQ and I gifted ourselves this great stand mixer. It’s so handy! I highly recommend one if you are going to be doing a lot of baking.
Start with the cream cheese, a bit of flour, and vanilla in the mixer. Blend that together.
Next, add the sour cream to the mix and blend that in. Yes, this makes a bit of a mess! Or maybe it’s just me….
I recommend an apron. I recently bought this adorable chicken apron on a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (one of my favorite places in the world). Our kitchen is chicken-themed, so it was perfect! I would have bought it even if it didn’t match though!
Lastly, add the eggs one at a time, mixing them into the filing. Blend the whole thing until its creamy.
Pour the filling into the pie crust.
Bake it for about an hour. You will see what I mean about the overflowing, brown edges in the picture above. The second full-size cheesecake turned out much better. Wish I had thought to try that sooner!
Above is the small second cheesecake. This one turned out really good as well! You really can’t go wrong with this cheesecake, brown edges or not!
Maybe next time we will save a piece for you, Ralph!!!