The perfect cheescake

This is not the first cheesecake recipe I share on here. But then why have another one you ask? Well, because my previous two (!!) recipes didn’t include my favorite way for making cheesecakes. Before, I shared my recipe for the most decadent Caramel Pecan Turtle cheesecake, based on a delicious slice I had at Cheesecake Factory 2 years ago. The other, was a Christmas proof Cranberry-Orange cheesecake which I made for a Christmas potluck dinner a few years ago. The recipe below is based on the Cranberry-Orange cheesecake recipe, but with a few tweaks. Because you know how that goes with recipes: you find one you like and then you alter it to make it even better. By now, whenever I make a cheesecake this is pretty much what I always do as it mostly resembles the cheesecake you can get from Dutch lunchroom Bagels & Beans. And since me and my friends LOVE their cheesecake this is what I now make.

The recipe below is for a baked, NY style cheesecake. Making cheesecake isn’t difficult. It just requires time and patience. You can use anything you like for making the base, but I prefer to use a very particular type of cookie. The other ingredients are simple and straightforward. But what makes this cheesecake is the orange zest and juice. That’s what gives it its distinct taste and what makes it so much like the Bagels & Beans cheesecake.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 250 grams Bastogne cookies (you can replace these by digestives, if you can’t find this particular cookie)
• 5 table spoons butter (melted)

Filling:

• 900 grams cream cheese
• 200 grams (or 1 cup) sugar
• 3 table spoons of almond flour (or all purpose flour)
• 4 eggs
• peel & juice of 1 orange
• 1 tea spoon vanilla extract

Tools:

• 26 cm spring form, lined with wax paper and greased with butter
• hand mixer
• large bowl
• food processor
• an oven

Preparation

Step 1: The crust

• Preheat oven to 160 Celsius
• Put cookies in a food processor
• Add butter
• Grind & blend together
• Press mixture in a spring form with a spoon
• Bake in over for 8 minutes

Step 2: the filling

• Increase oven temperature to 175 Celsius (after the crust has finished baking)
• Spoon cream cheese into a large bowl
• Add sugar
• Mix with hand mixer until light and fluffy

• Add the flour and mix
• Add the eggs, 1 by 1, mixing thoroughly each time (crack over a cup first to prevent mishaps with bad eggs)
• Mix in orange juice & peel & vanilla
• Pour onto crust

Step 3: Bake

• Bake until set (approximately 60 minutes). This depends on your oven. Just check it. Your cheesecake has set if it has risen like a souffle. The top should be baked but the cake as a whole will still be wobbly. It can help to leave a tray with water underneath your cheesecake while it’s baking.

Now on to the most important part to successfully create a cheesecake!!!!

Step 4: Cool & chill

• Let your cheesecake cool in your oven. This is important!! Moving the cheesecake before it has cooled down completely will mean that it will crack, or not settle properly. My advice: leave it to cool overnight in your oven.
• Chill in your fridge. Make sure you chill the cheesecake 6 – 8 hours prior to serving.

I made this cheesecake almost 24 hours before serving it! That’s why a perfect cheesecake requires mostly time and patience. I usually make mine the night before. Let it cool overnight in my oven (just leave the door open) and then I pop them in the fridge straight away after I wake up. It will then be ready to be served late in the afternoon or in the evening. This is NOT a good recipe to make during summer. If it’s too hot your cake will not cool down quickly enough and you run the risk of ending up with a spoiled cake as there is so much dairy in here that could make it go bad quickly if left out too long. I suggest you only make this if temperature are around or below 15 Celsius.

What’s your favorite cheesecake recipe?