Need a Special Cheesecake Recipe

I don't know about the recipe itself... but my all-time favorite cheesecake EVER was served at a friend's party.

She used the Jello no-bake cheesecake, and a bunch of fresh strawberries. She makes the crust as directed, then puts about 1/2 inch of cheesecake filling. Then she cut hollows into the strawberries (a melon baller works well if you have one...) and fills them with the rest of the cheesecake filling. She then arranges those into the crust, and drizzles with strawberry glaze.

OMG! SOOO GOOD! :D

All right, you made me bust out my cookbook...I just couldn't' say no to the dead auntie!! This recipe is seriously awesome. I've made it a lot and have rave review each time. It really is delicious. Very simple. It doesn't need fruit or anything, it's way good, not to toot my own horn or anything, but try it! You will need a springform pan though, it's a must and this recipe requires you to refrigerate the cooked cake at least 6 hours, so plan ahead!

Crumb Crust
1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
5 T unsalted butter, melted

Filling
16oz cream cheese at room temp
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1.5 t pure vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temp

Topping
8oz sour cream at room temp
3/4 t pure vanilla extract

1. To make crust preheat oven to 350. Place an 8" springform pan on a jelly roll pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together graham crumbs, sugar and butter until well blended and crumbly. Transfer the mixture to the springform pan and using the bottom of a measuring cup or your fingertips lightly press the mixture onto the bottom of the pan. Bake until set and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature.

For the filling
3. in a food processor or mixer, combine cream cheese sugar salt and vanilla until creamy and smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Incorporate the eggs until fully blended. Pour into the springform pan.
4. bake in the center of the oven until the top just begins to brown and the center jiggles slightly, 35-40 minutes.

To make the topping
5. mix together the sour cream and vanilla until blended
6. remove the cheesecake from the oven and drop spoonfuls of the topping around the edge of the cake then gentler spread it to cover the cake evenly. Return to the oven and bake for 5 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
7. Using a paring knife, loosen the sides from the inside edge of the pan. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap, and chill the cheesecake for at least 6 hours or overnight. To serve, gently unlatch the sides of the springform pan and cut the cake into thin wedges. Serve at room temperature. Store covered loosely with plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Do you want the standard recipe-no variations? Just a New York Cheesecake? Then I usually just bring cherries or blue berries on the side for people to add on their own.

Ok-here goes-
the crust is 1 c graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons suger
3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Combine ingrediants and press onto bottom of 9" spring form pan. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes.

Filling:

(4) 8 oz cream cheese-softened (u can do this 30 sec at a time in the microwave)
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla

mix the cc. sugar and flour together-mixing at medium speed with your blender. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Blend (stir) in sour cream and vanilla and pur over crust.

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 250 and continue baking for 1 hour. Loosen cake from rim of pan-(u can do this be runing a slim knife around the edges). Chill

Yummy!!!!

have you thought about getting one at a really good bakery? they can freshly make you one and a from-scratch home made cheesecake can be easily botched even if you are attempting the best recipe ever... since it is a very special occasion it may be quite a gamble to make something you never have before...

i have a great recipe that worked very well for me but it isn't a classic plain cheese cake, it was a butter pecan cheesecake from scratch

If all else fails I know that Safeway (the grocery store, do you have those by you?) has a delicious New York Cheesecake they sell in their frozen department. My husband and his family are BIG cheesecake lovers and have bought them everywhere and have paid the big bucks $$$ to get them for b-days and such and they all LOVE the one from Safeway! It is nice and thick and a decent price!

Good Luck and I am sorry for your loss.

i use the recipe on the box of graham cracker crumbs. i think is nabisco. but that one has turned out every time for me!!!

Try All Recepies.com ... I personally have not yet mastered the art and I think if you are going to make a cheesecake for this occasion you would also be good at it and have one of your own.

I am a cheesecake freak! I love cheesecake. I went through a cheesecake phase and bought a book called "The Joy of Cheesecake". I've made several of the recipes and the best so far is called "The Heavy One". It's a 10" cheesecake that will feed the whole bunch and wow the crowd. Almost as important as the cheesecake is what you put on top. I suggest fresh kiwi, strawberries and raspberries. It tastes heavenly, lightens up the heavy cheesecake and looks beautiful. Below is the recipe.

Graham cracker crust

2 1/2 lbs cream cheese
1 3/4 c granulated sugar
3 Tbls all purpose flour
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp grated orange rind
2 egg yolks
5 lg whole eggs
1/4 c heavy cream

Preheat oven to 475. Beat cream cheese til light and fluffy. Mix in sugar and flour, beat til smooth. Add grated rinds, then yolks and whole eggs one at a time beating after each until thoroughly blended. Stir in heavy cream, mix only briefly. Pour mixture into prepared crust, bake for 15 minutes at 475 then reduce temp to 200 and continue to bake another hour. When cake is done turn off oven and allow to cool slowly for an additional hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temp. Chill before serving.

You may be temped, but do not open the oven at all through cooking. I usually cook mine in a water bath to keep it from cracking, but if you are topping it it doesn't matter as much.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

My go to New York cheesecake is from the Joy of Cooking. It's fantastic and traditional. I use a thermometer a la Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen to test internal temperature rather than by time.

Speaking of which, America's Test Kitchen is the ultimate in recipes. Here's their NY style cheesecake.

Published March 1, 2002.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Our best New York–style cheesecake recipe started with a classic graham cracker crust. We used 2 1/2 pounds of cream cheese for adequate height, flavored the batter with 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 2 teaspoons each of lemon juice and vanilla for the perfect balance of sweetness and tang, and used six whole eggs plus two yolks for a texture that was dense but not heavy and firm but not rigid. Finally, we baked our cake New York–style: at 500 degrees for 10 minutes and then at 200 degrees for 90 minutes. (less)

MAKES ONE 9-INCH CHEESECAKE, SERVING 12 TO 16
For the crust, chocolate wafers (Nabisco Famous) can be substituted for graham crackers; you will need about 14 wafers. The flavor and texture of the cheesecake is best if the cake is allowed to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. When cutting the cake, have a pitcher of hot tap water nearby; dipping the blade of the knife into the water and wiping it clean with a kitchen towel after each cut helps make neat slices.

INGREDIENTS
Graham Cracker Crust
1cup graham cracker crumbs (4 ounces, 8 whole crackers, broken into rough pieces and processed in food processor until uniformly fine)
1tablespoon granulated sugar
5tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus additional 1 tablespoon melted butter for greasing pan

Cheesecake Filling
2 1/2pounds cream cheese, cut into rough 1-inch chunks and left to stand at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes
1/8teaspoon table salt
1 1/2cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
1/3cup sour cream (2 1/2 ounces)
2teaspoons lemon juice from 1 lemon
2teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks
6 large eggs

INSTRUCTIONS
1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar in medium bowl; add 5 tablespoons melted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened. Brush bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan with most of remaining melted butter, making sure to leave enough to brush pan in step 3. Empty crumbs into springform pan and press evenly into pan bottom. Bake until fragrant and beginning to brown around edges, about 13 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling.

2. For the cheesecake filling: Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese at medium-low speed to break up and soften slightly, about 1 minute. Scrape beater and bottom and sides of bowl well with rubber spatula; add salt and about half of sugar and beat at medium-low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; beat in remaining sugar until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla, and beat at low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add yolks and beat at medium-low speed until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add whole eggs two at a time, beating until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute, and scraping bowl between additions.

3. Brush sides of springform pan with remaining melted butter. Set springform pan on rimmed baking sheet (to catch any spills if springform pan leaks). Pour filling into cooled crust and bake 10 minutes; without opening oven door, reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and continue to bake until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of cheesecake registers about 150 degrees, about 11/2 hours. Transfer cake to wire rack and cool 5 minutes; run paring knife between cake and side of springform pan. Cool until barely warm, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours. (Cake can be refrigerated up to 4 days.)

4. To unmold cheesecake, remove sides of pan. Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving plate. Let cheesecake stand at room temperature about 30 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.

We all love the "CheeseCake Factory" cheese cakes, from our local grocery store. These are sold in some grocery stores, not just in their restaurant.

And yes, the Safeway cheesecakes are good! We buy those too!

Here is a link for a Food Network cheesecake recipe. It is the only recipe I use. I always have to bake my cheesecake about 20 minutes longer than the recipe calls for.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-911/crack-proof-c...

All of the other recipes everyone gave you sound delicious as well. The trick for all cheesecake is to put the cheesecake in a water bath while baking and bake at only 325. This keeps the cheesecake from cracking. Also, put foil around the spring form pan so the water doesn't seep into your cheesecake. I line the bottom of the springform pan with wax paper so I can easily lift the cheesecake out of the pan and put it on a platter.

Good luck! Just make sure you do a practice run before serving it up. Cheesecake is a lot harder than it looks.

The marscarpone cheesecake from epicurious.com is our family's all time favorite. Everyone who tries it loves it. It is not super stiff and dense, it is soft and creamy. We put Comstock cherries on top.