Sharondiva's CheeseCake

Crust was taken from New York Style Cheesecake at zaar

YIELDS: 1(8") loose bottom pan (mixture was 3/4 full)

COMMENT: Soury taste (from yogurt?), dense yet not heavy dense. Cake was heavy itself. Cracked top. Crust didn't taste good because i used expired graham crust. about 1/8" crust. sides about 1/4" crust. Cheesecake itself is thick


CHANGES:
3 cream cheese
2 (125ml) fat free yogurt ( total 8z w/o liquid removed) = instead of 6 oz
1 (305ml) Milkmaid Condensed milk = for 311 ml
** 3/4 of 14 oz condensed milk =311 ml
1/2 T vanilla
Crust:
3/4 c graham
3 T (45 g) margarine ----> perfect mixture/ consistency

EQUIPMENT:
325º - 15min
300º - the rest of baking time. Total bake time 1 hr 15min
Then open the door ajar till semi cool, remove from oven
Mid rack (outer of oven). Foiled then grease bottom and sides of pan. Foiled until the oversides because i'm afraid the mixture might spill (because i use loose bottom pan) but it didn't. Grease using butter wrapper
Steam Bath Method

PROCEDURE:
1. The day before, i strain the yogurt w/santana to release the extra liquid. Might not bake right according to the forums and a different txture if use yogurt for sour cream, so its suggested to strain the extra liquid from yogurt
2. Before church, made the crust, chilled w/ plate covered
3. Beat yogurt first till creamy then add in cream cheese. Bit till smooth
4. Add condense, vanilla. Scraping often bottom and sides coz there were Cream cheese mixture sticking. While mixing, there had lumps but few min more of mixing smoothens it
5. Beat eggs in separate bowl. Then add to cream cheese mixture and fold gently. There were few bubbles to pop
6. STEAM METHOD: Preheat oven w/ 8x11 pan(w/ few cold water) in lowest rack. Pour boiling water when i put in the cheesecake
7. After 1 hr 15min of baking, center was still jiggly 2-3"
8. Cooled in ajared oven door. At first no crack, but later it did, about 3". When semi cooled (after cracking), i run knife between the cake and the pan

RECIPE:

Cheesecake formula:

This “formula” can be increased by pan size to make any size cake you like: 7” springform = 3 units (2/3 can of condensed milk), 8” = 4 units, 9” = 5 units, etc.)

Cheesecake Formula - the following is ONE unit….multiply for appropriate pan size.

8 oz. Cream cheese
2 oz. sour cream (or substitute plain yogurt)
1 egg

To the whole recipe, add the following:
1 can sweetened condensed milk per recipe
1-2 TBSP. vanilla per recipe

Crust – your choice….Graham, oreo cookie (good with swiss _mocha cheesecake), crushed biscotti, etc.

Method: Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth (with hand mixer), add sweetened condensed milk and flavorings. Beat eggs separately, and then add to batter, incorporating GENTLY by hand!

It is very important to bake this at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, and 250 for an hour - hour and a half. Keep a pan of water on the rack below the rack the cheesecake is on. Let cool in the oven with the door ajar for an hour, then move to countertop to cool for another hour. Refrigerate overnight before removing springform sides.

Notes:

After adding vanilla, you can add other extracts (1 tbsp) OR 1/3 cup of liquid, such as caramel flavored coffee creamer, 1/3 cup of coffee or _mocha (liquid), key lime juice, etc.

I use crushed almond biscotti for my vanilla almond cheesecake (I add 1 tbsp. almond extract to batter along with vanilla extract)

Strawberry extract with a little red food coloring makes a fun variation

This is very nice with a strawberry coulis on top…just use strawberries, a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, powdered sugar to taste and blend until a light and frothy liquid. Serve over slices.