I don't mess around when it comes to cheesecake

If you're like me, you could eat cheesecake for any meal. I am not ashamed somewhat ashamed to admit that I have indeed eaten cheesecake out of the pan, and for breakfast. Has anyone seen that episode of "Friends" where Rachel and Chandler keep stealing the cheesecakes from outside a woman's apartment? I would be right there with them when they did that, and later I'd grab my fork to eat that cheesecake off the hallway floor.

Just in case you couldn't tell, I'm serious about cheesecake.

I fell in love with food blogging because of Bakerella, and so when I found a cheesecake recipe on her website, I KNEW I had to make it. And [un]luckily for my roommate at the time, I enlisted her help [thanks Allie!].

I bought a hand mixer solely for this purpose. I called my mom up from several hours away and wheedled and whined until she let me borrow her German cheesecake pan [that I later broke, by the way]. I was going all the way. I was going to make the most impressive first cheesecake ever.

And it was. Ok, maybe not the most impressive, but by to my pasta 6 meals out of 7, potato chip snacking, cheap beer drinking self...I was a cheesecake goddess. My favorite thing about this recipe: its not too sweet. It has that rich authentic cheesecake taste that downplays the sugar. Which makes it a great dessert. And also a bad one. Because you end up eating way more than you should, because you convince yourself that its good for you since its really not too sweet.

Please. Go get the ingredients. Now. I know that it seems like an indecent amount of cream cheese, but even a college girl can afford to splurge to buy cheesecake ingredients. And considering this will feed you for like 3 days straight, its honestly a bargain.

*Sidenote: For a quicker, and still pleasing version, I sometimes use a store-bought crust and then just make the filling. That way I can get my fix faster. I mean...


Plain Cheesecake
This is Bakerella's exact recipe. Please feel free to visit her site for much better photography, and no cracks around the edges.

For crust:

2.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

For filling:

4 (8oz.) packages cream cheese
1.5 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
5 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Optional:
Toppings [such as syrup, whipped cream, fresh fruit, melted jam, Oreo crumbs, etc]

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar.
• Stir in melted butter until moistened.
• Pour the mixture into a 9 inch springform pan that is at least 3 inches tall. Press the crumb/butter mixture into the bottom and up 1 inch on the sides
  
• Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature. [You could also substitute this for a cinnamon graham cracker crust, or chocolate graham crackers, or if you're really bold...Oreos!]
  

• To make the cheesecake filling, cream the sugar, cream cheese and flour with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy.
• On medium low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition.
• On low, add sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla just until combined. [I would like everyone to know that you can definitely do all this without a mixer, as I do now, ever since my mixer started smoking and lit on fire after making too many desserts...true story]
  
• Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes at 325.
• Make sure to take it out of the oven before the center looks done. It will be kind of wobbly and it will move in one piece. The center will look more shiny than the edges. That’s ok because it will continue to cook a little while it’s in the pan.
• Remove from the oven and let cool completely to room temperature.
• Hope that it doesn’t crack. [As you can tell, I did not follow this step. Don't be alarmed, it will taste just as delicious, and you will comfort yourself with the fact that of course nobody will want to eat a cracked cheesecake, and you will be left with no other choice but to eat it yourself.]

• Separate the cheesecake from the sides of the pan. Let it chill overnight for the best flavor. This will of course be the hardest step, so you may allow yourself one slice, but honestly it is infinitely better if you allow it to chill overnight because magical cheesecake fairies come do magical delicious things to it in your fridge or something :)