New York Style Cheesecake

Found this yummilicious cheesecake recipe online!! It turned out really good and yummy!

Give it a go!

New York Style Cheesecake

4 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a mixer, soften cream cheese and beat until spreads easily. Add sweetened condensed milk, beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. While beater is running, add one egg at a time until combined and add the vanilla. A few little lumps of cheese are fine, but try to thoroughly mix. Lastly beat in the flour. Set aside.

Crust
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour

Mix ingredients in a small bowl until crumbly and starting to stick together. If you want a crust that is just on the bottom, use a single batch. Double the batch to get what you see in the picture above.
Preheat oven to 350.

Bottom Crust only: Line the bottom of a 9" springform pan with parchment paper. If you don't like your cheesecake sticking to sides of the pan, line the sides as well. A bit of butter makes a good glue to keep the parchment in place. Press single batch of crust mix into bottom evenly. You can use the back of a tablespoon to smooth it out. Pour in your cheesecake batter.

NY Style Crust: For a crust all the way up the side, press half of a double batch into the bottom of the pan, then use the rest to press around the sides. Don't worry about it looking perfect. This is a rustic looking cheesecake. Just try to get it as even as possible up the sides of the pan (about 2 1/2 - 3 inches, I think). Pour in the cheesecake batter. Don't panic if there's more batter than crust. It'll still cook great. You'll just know next time you could've gotten the crust a bit higher.

Whichever style you make, bake on bottom rack of oven for approximately 1 hour. Could take 15 minutes more depending on your oven and the weather.

Bottom rack is essential to get the bottom of the crust well cooked if you are not blind baking first. Some ovens can be temperamental, and for that I suggest blind baking first to ensure you don't have an underdone crust. Blind bake the crust for 10 minutes before adding the filling.

You'll know its done when the top is puffed and golden without looking wet in the center, and it doesn't jiggle too much. Remove to a cooling rack. Let it cool to room temperature before chilling, otherwise the top will get sweaty. Chill for 6 hrs or overnight for best results. It is a very thick cake so it does take a while. Cut with a wet knife to keep it from sticking to the blade. I cut it into 12 pieces.

Variations:

Marble Cheesecake: Half the batter. Melt 3 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and stir into one half. Alternate portions of plain and chocolate batter, use a knife to marble as desired.

Lemon Cheesecake: Substitute vanilla for any extract of preference. It doesn't hurt to add some zest if you have a fresh lemon around. The lemon is a flavoring rather than being tart like a pie. Goes really well with a homemade raspberry sauce. Try your favorite extract. It is difficult to go wrong.

Additional Notes: For adding actual fruit, I'd just suggest checking other recipes on the internet and experimenting. So long as the batter doesn't get runny and you don't mess with the basic structure, this is a pretty flexible recipe. And if you love your toppings, pretty much any fruit or sauce goes well.
One dinner party I put together a bowl of strawberries in a lightly thickened sauce, a bowl of cooked blueberries, and a bowl of raspberry sauce (seeds strained out). People simply spooned their favorite over their piece of cheesecake.

I think it would be possible to make this into a sugar free recipe. 1 can of sweetened condensed milk is essentially 1 cup of evaporated milk cooked together with 1 1/4 cup sugar until the sugar dissolves. It stands to reason you could use just the cup of evaporated milk and then your equivalent sweetener of choice. You may have to cook the cheesecake a little longer, or I might try adding a bit of extra flour or cornstarch for thickener. As for the sugary crust... well you could replace it with a nice ground nut base like pecans and almonds on the bottom of the pan.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seian/730856569/in/faves-seashanties/