New York Cheesecake

This recipe makes a firm and heavy cheesecake, nicely flavored with lemon. It is very important to avoid over-beating the ingredients in order to avoid cracks.

Ingredients

• 2 ½ pounds softened cream cheese
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 3 tablespoons flour
• zest of one lemon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 large whole eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup heavy cream

For Crust:

• 5 ounces Barnham and Bailey Animal Crackers
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 4 Tablespoons melted butter

Instructions

For Crust:

1. Butter bottom and sides of 10 inch Springform pan.
2. Crush Animal Crackers into a fine powder. Mix with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Add to melted butter and mix with a fork until blended.
3. Press mixture into the bottom and up about one third of the sides of the pan. Refrigerate 1 hour.

For Cake

1. Have all ingrediants at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
3. Mix sugar, flour and corn starch together.
4. Using a wooden spoon, beat cream cheese with sugar mix, zest and vanilla until it is smooth. Do not overbeat.
5. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating lightly with wooden spoon after each addition. Do not overbeat as this causes the cheesecake to crack.
6. Gently stir in cream.
7. Pour mixture into the pan. Place pan on cookie sheet to avoid leakage.
8. Bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes
9. Lower heat to 225 degrees and bake for 1 hour
10. Raise heat to 250 degrees and bake for about 15 more minutes
11. Refrigerate immediately for at least one hour, keep covered with a cloth and cookie sheet (cloth on bottom) until condensation stops forming (if you cover it right away with saran wrap, condensation will drip onto the cake).