Shaker Gourmet: Cheesecake

Ok people, you know I like you all when I'm giving out my cheesecake recipe. I loves me some cheesecake (more of a dense kind, not fluffy) and this recipe is delish. It's super easy and doesn't require hours with the oven open. You can put a pan of water in (and if you have bricks in your oven, you should) with it but it's not absolutely necessary.

Cheesecake

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

4 pkg (8 oz) softened cream cheese
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 T real vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream

Mix crumbs, butter, and sugar in bowl. Press into bottom on 9" springform pan. Freeze until filling is ready. Preheat oven to 325.

Beat cream cheese on speed 4 until fluffy. Scrape bowl several times throughout. Add sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in sour cream.

Pour filling into crust and bake for 1.5 hours (may be less...start checking after 1 hr, 15 mins), until nice and golden on top and very slightly jiggly in the very center. Let sit on rack to cool to room temp before removing sides.

Graham crackers are not absolutely necessary either. Over the holidays, I finely crushed ginger snaps and made them into a crust for cheesecake. I've also used finely crushed Nilla Wafers (and omitted the sugar).

If you'd like to participate in Shaker Gourmet, email me at: shakergourmet (at) gmail.com