Once upon a time there was... Cheesecake

Cheesecake, oh cheesecake. There really are few things in life finer than a cheesecake. Strawberry or oreo, chocolate or vanilla bean, however you dress up a cheesecake, we will certainly eat it. In this case, we made this very special cheesecake for a very special thanks-christmas family gathering. What you won't see is that we also made cherries jubilee (yes, we got to light things on fire, and no we did not burn anything we weren't supposed to). Because we had such a fancy and flaming cheesecake topping, we made a plain and simple cheesecake. This recipe is excellent because you can make the cheesecake and then also make all kinds of toppings, so everyone can have exactly the kind of cheesecake they would like. I could really keep talking about the joys of cheesecake for a while, but I think you want to know how to make your own. So here it is, recipe adapted from copykat.com.

ingredients

3 8oz packages Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/3 c sugar

5 eggs

16 oz sour cream, room temperature

1/4 c flour

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs (about 24 crackers)

6 Tbsp melted butter

instructions

1. preheat the oven to 325.

2. prepare crust. combine melted butter and crumbs in a bowl. Press into the bottom of a 9" springform pan.

3. beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. slowly add sugar and beat until creamy. add eggs, 1 at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

4. add flour, vanilla, and lemon juice, mix well. Add sour cream and mix well.

5. pour mixture into the prepared crust.

6. Place on the top rack and bake 1 hour 15 minutes. When time is up, open oven door to let slowly cool for 1 hour.

Cal's note: see how ours is kind of sinking? We thought we knew better and took it out too early. Do not think you know better. If you have already taken it out, do not worry, it will still be delicious. Also, the slowly cooling is important to prevent cracking.

7. Now put it in the refrigerator and do not even think about eating it for at least 24 hours. If you try to eat it sooner you will say, "that pig and cow don't know anything about cheesecake. this is the blandest cheesecake i've ever had." but if you wait you will say, "the cow and pig are masters of cheesecake knowledge." You can see from our faces below that we did wait, and that the cheesecake was delicious.

Moo!