Cheesecake

One of my favorite things is cheesecake.  And I am a total snob when it comes to it.  My father makes the most amazing cheesecake, and it so could put the Cheesecake Factory right out of business if he sold them. Though its not his own recipe, its one he found in a magazine eons ago.  Somehow when he makes it, the taste, texture, feel, and experience is so unique.  My mom uses the same recipe, and hers comes out good - minus that one Christmas incident where it didn't set all the way and oozed all over the place when I tried to cut it - but there is still this difference between theirs.  Its the same thing between my mom and her sister, Connie.  They can use the same recipe for brownies and everything be the same, the two will be so completely different.  There is nothing like my Aunt Connie's brownies and my dad's cheesecake.  And don't think my dad is not fallible when it comes to his, he did almost set the stove on fire once.

Now, I may get teased that I don't know how to cook or know where the stove is - but that's just because I hate cooking typical normal dinners and such.  When I am gonna cook/bake, it has to be worth it.  I finally decided to give my dad's intimidating cheesecake a try. And for my first attempt ever, I think I did fairly well.

The First Step is making the crust.  The ingredients for that are:
   2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
   1/3 cup sugar
   1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
   1/2 cup of butter or margarine, melted

Combine all but the butter in a small bowl; then stir in butter.  Press onto the bottom and 2" up the sides of a greased 9" springform pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.

Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.

Filling Ingredients are:

  3 packages (8oz each) Cream Cheese, softened

  1 1/2 cups sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  4 eggs, separated

In mixing bowl, combine and beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.  In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into cream cheese mixture.  Pour over crust.

Bake for 1 hour or until center is almost set.  Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen, cool 1 hour longer.  It will shrink down in size and will split/crack in the middle.

Refrigerate until completely cooled.

Topping Ingredients are:

   1/2 cup Sour Cream

   2 tablespoons sugar

   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

   1/2 cup of whipping cream, whipped

**Step that I forgot and was not mentioned again in the directions, whip the whipping cream**

In mixing bowl, combine sour cream, sugar, and vanilla; fold in whipped cream.  Spread over cheesecake. Refrigerate over night. Remove sides of pan and serve.

So, the mistakes I made:

   I packed the crust too hard in the bottom of the pan.  When I went to cut it this morning, it was extremely difficult to cut through -- though still edible!!  It just doesn't come out as a nice clean piece thats all -- as you can see in the below picture.

   I forgot to whip the whipping cream, and just poured it into the mixture.  Therefore my topping is not correct.  Though, if I didn't realize this or mentioned it, no one would notice -- besides my dad probably.