New York Cheesecake
A good ole classic and popular favourite, this New York Cheesecake is a delicious dessert and this recipe or version matches those expectations easily – it’s not too difficult to make either. Make sure to serve it with fresh raspberries, chocolate cream or berry couli as any good dessert is even better with a few decadent sides.
The Biscuit Base
Crushed plain biscuits are used to make the base of this cheesecake. What is meant by plain biscuits are biscuits that are similar to digestive biscuits. Growing up I was not a fan of digestive biscuits. Instead I went for the more common Superwines which are in every supermarket, dairy or service station in New Zealand. These thin, plain but sweet biscuits are round and are a favourite of mine, especially when having a cup of tea where I reckon Superwines are the perfect dunking biscuit. If you are feeling adventurous, feel free to experiment with other biscuits such as gingernuts or chocolate biscuits, you might just find a super awesome combination and start a new trend in cheesecake baking!
Alternatives
The recipe call for the use of a springform pan, no worries if you do not have one. A loose bottom tin or standard baking tin can be used, just be sure to grease and line the tin well. If push come to shove, I have heard of people using a lined oven proof pan, like a cast iron skillet or steel frying pan… I personally have not tried that one, so if you decide to give that a go, please let me know how you go.
With lemon and orange zest, they are interchangeable if you only have one or the other. It will change the taste a little but not significantly so the resulting New York Chessecake with still be completely devine.
Useful Information
I think it is useful to know, especially if you have not made a baked cheesecake before, that it is quite normal for the cheesecake to puff up as it cooks then deflate or sink in towards the centre after you take it out of the oven to cool. The key to limiting that effect is to make sure you bake it for long enough, leave it alone to bake in the oven and let cool completely before slicing into it.
It is quite important that you stop yourself from opening the oven until the full baking time has elapsed. Opening the oven prematurely will likely cause the cheesecake to deflate and crack which is not what we want as a result.
Usign a vanilla pod is really nice to use in this recipe as the specks of vanilla throughout the cheesecake is a good visual to have to match the pleasant vanilla fragrance emanating from a slice of this dessert. In saying that, however, it is ok to substitute the vanilla pod with one teaspoon of vanilla essence or half a teaspoon of vanilla paste. Great flavour will still be achieved and everyone’s tastebuds will still be left wanting more.
When I made this, I could not each it all on my own so I shared it with my workmates the next day. It stored well overnight, but by the afternoon I could see the structure of teh new york cheesecake failing to hold itself together, so it is one of those desserts that are best eaten on the same day it was made but if required it can survive to make it for mornign tea or a lunchtime sweet treat.
A heated knife is suggested as the best tool to use to remove this new york cheesecake from the springform tin. If it makes you nervous to use a metal implement on your baking tin, another way to release the side of the cheesecake from the tin is to get a tea towl and soak it in hot or warm water, then wrap the warm tea towel aroudn the outer edge of the springform tin to melt the sides a little. This should release the cheesecake from teh sides of the tin allowing you to jiggle the tin free from the tin.
This is a rich cheesecake so make sure to serve it with some fresh fruit and cream. My suggestion for this would be a few fresh raspberries, a dollap of cream and a drizzling of berry couli if you happen to have some.
New York Cheesecake
Serves 8
250g plain biscuits
65g unsalted butter, melted
1kg cream cheese
2 Tbsp milk
350g caster sugar
3 Tbsp flour
finely grated zest of a lemon
finely grated zest of an orange
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 vanilla pod
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
Put biscuits into a food processor or blender and process until they finely crumbed.
Add butter and mix well.
Press biscuit mixture into the bottom of a 22cm round springform pan.
Place onto a baking tray and bake for 12 minutes then remove from oven to cool.
Increase oven heat to 220 degrees celcius.
Using electric beaters, beat together cream cheese, milk, flour, sugar and zests until smooth.
Add eggs one at a time, beating them into the mixture using a low speed.
Beat in the egg yolks.
Split the vanilla pod, scrap out the seeds and beat into the mixture.
Beat until smooth, Be sure to scrap the sides of the bowl to ensure the misture is thoroughly combined.
Pour mix into springform pan on top of biscuit base.
Bake in oven for 12 minutes.
Turn down oven temperature to 100 degrees celcius and continue baking for 1 hour.
Turn off oven and leave to cool in the oven for 1 hour with the oven door ajar.
Remove from the oven and place the springform pan on a cooling rack to cool.
Place in refridgerator for at least 6 hours before serving
Carefully remove cheesecake from springform pan and cut using a heated knife.
Serve with berry couli, fresh raspberries and chocolate cream.