Cheesecake (Europe)

      The funniest thing about cheesecake, is not how it is made or how insanely addictive it is.  The funniest thing about cheesecake is where it originally came from.  Maybe it's just me, but I find it funny that a dessert that is so extremely sinful came from a people who are so devoutly religious.  The first cheesecakes where made by the Jewish people.  These original cheescakes were more of a cream pie made using cottage cheese.  Somewhere in the middle of the nineteenth century the dessert made the leap to Europe where different cultures used different ingrediants until it became the wonderful dessert that we know today.
      In the last thirty or so years cheesecake has hit the culinary world by storm.  After all cheesecake is one of the most versatile desserts known to man.  You can make them with strawberries, chocolate, irish cream, mango's, coffee almost any flavor can be added to Cheescake and taste good. 
      For Oscar and Evelyn Overton cheescake was much more than a dessert in 1971 they opened a little restaurant known as "The Cheescake Factory" which would later become one of the highest grossing restaurant chains in the United States with additional restaurants in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
      When you make a cheesecake, you need only follow a few simple rules.  First make sure that you always use a good quality cream cheese and allow it to soften.  Second always mix the cheesecake by hand, I know this is a pain to do but if you use a mixer it will become far to airy and you will have that cracked top effect which will make you so very sad.  Third if you are going to make a cheesecake make the sour cream topping which is in the original recipes, it is so much better than whipped cream.

Baked Cheesecake

5 cups pecan shortbread cookies

3/4 cup butter

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 containers (16 ounces each) sour cream

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Place the shortbread cookies into a plastic bag and pound them using either the flat side of kitchen mallet, or a rolling pin.  Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and mix in the graham crackers.  Press the cookie crumbs into the bottom and halfway up the sides of a 10-inch spring form pan (the best way to do this is to to use a sheet of parchment paper and use a coffee cup or measuring cup).  Place the crust into the refrigerator until needed.

In a large bowl cream the cream cheese with a wooden spoon (it is very important that you do not use a mixer to make this cheesecake using a wooden spoon may be hard to do but it gives the best results).  Add one egg at a time to the creamed cream cheese, making sure that you have fully incorporated each egg before adding the next (VERY VERY IMPORTANT).  Add the 1 cup sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and mix well.

Pour the mixture over the crust.  Wrap aluminum foil around the outside of the spring form pan just in case the melted butter leeks from the pan.  Place the spring form pan on top of the cookie sheet and into a 300* oven for 35 to 45 minutes (If the cheesecake cracks remove it immediately from the oven or it will become dry).  The cheesecake should appear very puffy but when removed from the oven it will deflate.

Allow the cheesecake to settle for 10 minutes while you prepare the topping.  In a small bowl mix together the sour cream, sugar, remaining vanilla, and lemon zest.  Pour the sour cream mixture over the cheesecake and place back in to the oven for five minutes so that it will set.  Remove the pan from the oven and refrigerate with the top covered overnight. 

After the cheesecake has chilled overnight place the bottom of the spring form ban on top of the bottom of a coffee can.  Release the sides of the pan.  Serve the cheesecake immediately or cover and chill until ready to serve ( if you like you can freeze the cheesecake for 3 months, just allow to thaw before serving).

Serves 10