Dana's Cheesecake

I've done a lot of experimenting with cheesecake.  It might sound easy but it's quite temperamental and takes careful steps to get it perfectly creamy and yummy.  You can make your own crust or use the traditional Graham cracker crust.  Graham crackers are made with Graham flour.  Graham is a man's last name.  It's made from finely ground white flour from wheat and then they add back in the course bran and germ of the wheat berry at a certain ratio.  This recipe makes a deep 2-inch cheesecake, but you can half the recipe just fine to make a shorter one, just remember to half the crust too and cut the baking time and resting time in half.  I prefer to top the cheesecake with something rather than mix something in.  The flavor of the mix-ins gets lost in the cheesecake, but a topping allows you to taste them both.  This is a New York style cheesecake which is dense and creamy versus light and fluffy, more like custard.

Recipe

Crust:
1 C AP flour
2 Tbs wheat bran
1 Tbs wheat germ
1/2 C sugar or 1/4 C powdered sugar
1/4 C cocoa or chopped nuts
5 Tbs butter, melted
OR
9 full graham crackers or vanilla wafers (can substitute half for chopped nuts)
4-5 Tbs butter, melted
3 Tbs white or brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon or 1/4 C cocoa powder (optional)

Gluten Free
125g almond flour
50g sugar
Pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 Tbs lemon zest
42g butter, melted and cooled

Blend dry ingredients, slowly add butter and press into pan.

Filling:
4 pkg Philadelphia brand cream cheese, super softened
6 eggs, remove chalaze
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp orange extract or other flavor (optional)
1 large pinch of salt

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Cream the cream cheese and sour cream together very well. Slowly add eggs and sugar alternately on low speed of mixer or just stirring by hand. Keep mixing on low while adding rest of ingredients, adding cream very last until everything is really well combined but not over-mixed and scraping the bowl very often. Be careful not to beat any air into the cake batter. The batter should have a silky finish with no lumps. Pour into crust lined spring form pan, wrap pan with (try using a slow-cooker liner tied in a knot just under the rim) heavy-duty aluminum foil (or place inside another round pan) and place inside large baking pan. Pour boiling water into baking pan about halfway up spring form pan, being careful not to get water in the cheesecake or the foil or pan around the spring form pan. Bake 300°F-325°F (I like to start lower and increase to 325°F if needed.)  for 1 1/2 hours (If it's too hot, it will curdle and not be as silky and if it's not hot enough it won't be as firm when it's cooled). Turn off oven, prop door open about 1 inch and leave for one hour. Remove from oven, run a knife around the edge of the cake and cover with a cloth to let it completely cool. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably longer. Remove spring-form pan ring and top with any desired toppings. Remove cheesecake from fridge at least 20 minutes before serving.

For 16-18 regular cupcakes, bake in crust-lined (or just put a cookie--like an oreo--in the bottom for a crust) paper baking cup-lined muffin tins for 20-25 minutes at 300°F. Just after you put them in the oven, put about a cup of ice in a pre-heated pan in the bottom of the oven for some steam. Turn off oven, prop door open an inch and let them remain in the oven for 25 minutes, then let them completely cool before putting in fridge.

Orange topping: 2 C mixed liquid (mandarin syrup, orange juice and canned apricot syrup), 1/2 C sugar, 3 Tbs cornstarch. Combine all, bring to boil and simmer 2 minutes. Cool, top half on cake, top that with 2 cans drained mandarin oranges, then top with the rest of the sauce, refrigerate 4 hours.

Chocolate cheesecake: Cut lemon juice in half and add to batter 8 oz semi-sweet, 6 oz bitter sweet or 10 oz white chocolate callets or chips, melted in microwave plus 1-3 Tbs cocoa.

Chocolate Swirl: Use about a cup of dark chocolate fudge sauce or chocolate syrup. Fill the pan with cheesecake batter and spoon chocolate sauce or pour syrup onto batter. Take a chopstick and drag back and forth through batter.

Fruit topping:  Make 1/2 recipe Fresh Cherry Pie, filling only--substitute the tapioca for cornstarch.  Bring everything but the cornstarch to a boil.  Mix the cornstarch with a little water and slowly stir into the cherries until it's the thickness you like. Spoon over each serving of cheesecake, just before serving.  For other fruit, mix 2 cups frozen or fresh (add a little water for fresh to begin cooking), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons water and 1 tablespoon cornstarch.  Cook fruit (and a little water if using fresh fruit) and lemon juice about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Whisk in cornstarch mixed with water and simmer until the consistency you like.  Put on top of cheesecake either before you put it in the fridge or just before serving.

Truffle topping: 1 recipe Dana's Basic Truffles.  Increase cream to 5 oz.  Substitute butter for the coconut oil. May substitute any flavor for the orange extract in the cheesecake and the Ganache.  After Ganache has thickened, cool a little and pour over cold cheesecake (pour only in the center of the cake and it will spread evenly over the top).  Place in fridge to set.  Remove spring form pan ring.

Sauce or Syrup: Blend 6 oz of berries with 2 Tbs sugar and push through sieve with rubber spatula.  Discard seeds and put sauce in a squeeze bottle.  After pouring cheesecake batter in pan, squeeze desired sized dots of sauce all over the top of cheesecake batter.  Use a chopstick to drag through dots.  You may also use any kind of syrup to drag through the batter using the same method.