Grammie Nancy's French Cheesecake Recipe
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Category: |
Category: |
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Crust:
1 cup AP flour, 1/2 cup soft salted butter.
1 egg yolk (save white for filling), 2 tbs. sugar.
1/4 tsp. almond extract (or vanilla if you do not have almond).
Filling (have everything at room temperature):
4, 8 oz. packages softened full fat cream cheese (32 oz. - 2 lbs. +/-)
1 tbs. AP flour, 1/2 cup of sugar.
4 eggs, separated (plus extra white from crust).
1/4 cup heavy cream.
1/4 cup full fat sour cream (or yogurt, but with all these calories, why bother?).
1 tsp. real vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp. salt.
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon rind or lemon juice (be careful here, I made a cheesecake for Christmas 2024 at Mark and Reagan's house and used too much, a very lemony cheesecake resulted)
Topping: Go wild - this is an area to really personalize. Cooked down lightly sweetened strawberries are my favorite topping - you can place extra in a bowl.
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Directions: |
Directions:Heat oven to 400º.
Crust - start this a 1/2 hour before the main cake so it can cool:
Mix flour with soft butter until blended (use fork or hands).
Add egg yolk, almond extract and sugar and blend again.
Divide dough in half, Butter your hands (to prevent sticking) and press half the dough into the bottom of a 9" springform pan (or larger if you have added to the recipe), going up the sides a little bit and being careful that it is not too thick between the bottom and side of the pan.
Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until lightly browned. Thoroughly cool (very important - if the pan is at all warm, the side dough will melt down).
Press the remaining dough about half way around the side, slightly overlapping the part where you went up the sides with the bottom crust. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Filling:
Pre-heat oven to 350º.
Cream softened cheese with flour and sugar.
Beat egg yolks and mix into cheese with heavy and sour cream
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with salt until until fairly stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Carefully fold whites into cheese mixture (this is the key to this cheesecake).
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 50-60 minutes (1 hour 10 +/- minutes for a 10" pan) .
IMPORTANT: The top of the cake will rise up and may crack - this is OK. When the top is brown and it looks done, turn off the oven, crack the door a bit and let the cheesecake remain in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. The top will settle down a bit and then you can take it out and leave it on the counter for another hour to cool. Place in the fridge for 2 days before topping and serving. Also look up Bain-Marie to reduce cracking. |
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Number Of
Servings: |
Number Of
Servings:12 |
Preparation
Time: |
Preparation
Time:3 Hours plus cooling time and 2 days of rest |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: Make this cheesecake 2 - 3 days before serving and let it sit in the fridge. It settles down and makes that rich, velvety New York style cheesecake that we all love. If you do not do this, it tastes dry and yuck (technical cooking term). This also cuts down on the tasks you have to do on the day you are serving it. You can certainly use a Graham cracker crust, but the baked crust is fabulous and makes this cheesecake unique. I started making this in 1980 and it quickly became a family favorite. That year, Becky Diamond was born and I happened to pick up the December 1980 issue of Yankee Magazine. It had a version of this recipe that I made for the family that Christmas, and have been making ever since.
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