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Oreo Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Recipe

A hit with kids and adults alike, this Oreo cheesecake recipes has cookies & cream goodness with a thick cookies and cream crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cheesecake

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Chilling 4 hours hours

Total Time 6 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Author Go Sweet Fox

Equipment

• 1 Spring form pan, 9 inches
• Food Processor
• KitchenAid (or mixer of your choice)

Ingredients

The Cookies & Cream Crust

• 2½ C Oreo crumbs (2 rows of Oreos–see post for details)
• 6 T butter, melted

The Cheesecake

• 16 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 16 oz Lucerne Cream Cheese
• 1¼ C Sugar
• ½ C Sour cream
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 4 Large Eggs
• 2 C Oreo Cookie Chunks (about a row-and-a-half of oreos–see post for more info)

Instructions

The Oreo Crust

• Prepare the spring-form pan. Place parchment paper at the bottom of the pan and lightly spray the paper and sides of the pan with cooking spray. You can line the sides with parchment paper as well, but I found that to be unnecessary.
• Using a food processor, grind the Oreos into crumbs. You will use two sleeves of Oreos from a party-size package (see post notes).
• Place the Oreo crumbs into a medium bowl.
• Add the melted butter to the Oreo crumbs.
• Mix the crumbs and butter until evenly moistened.
• Pour the crust into the pan and press the crust around the pan evenly using the bottom of a flat cup. (Note: I prefer a thicker, flat crust so that there is an equal amount of crust in each bite. If you wish to have the crust go up the sides, you can do so by pressing the crust against the sides of the pan.)

The Oreo Cheesecake Filling

• Preheat the oven to 250°F.
• Place all of the cream cheese into the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Using the beater attachment (not the whisk), mix the cream cheese until smooth. Medium speed is fine. Do not worry about overmixing the cream cheese. You need to make sure it is smooth at this step (and before you add the eggs).
• Add the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Continue mixing. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl using a spatula. You will mix until it looks smooth and uniform in color.
• Add the eggs, two at a time. You only mix until the eggs are incorporated into the mix (ie: uniform in color). You do not want to overbeat the eggs. I use the KitchenAid at low speed and finish with a hand whisk just to ensure no eggs are missed.
• Add Oreo Cookie Chunks. I just break the cookies by hand into at least fourths. See post notes for more details.
• Gently mix by hand until well incorporated.
• Gently pour the cheesecake mix onto the crust in the spring form pan.
• You can even out the top of the cheesecake with a spatula or by lightly tapping the bottom of the pan flatly against the countertop.

Baking the Cheesecake

• Bake the cheesecake at 250°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Place the cheesecake on the top rack so it is in the center of the oven. Also, place a large cookie sheet on the bottom rack beneath the cheesecake. The cheesecake may "weep" extra moisture from the butter or fat from the cream cheese. The cookie sheet will catch this and help avoid mess in the oven.
• After the initial baking, turn off the oven and crack it open slightly. You can wedge a hot pad against the oven door to stop it from closing all the way. This will vent the oven while allowing the residual heat to continue the baking process. Allow the cheesecake to sit in the oven for an additional 60 minutes.
• After this second hour, the center of the cheesecake may still be a little jiggly. Remove it from the oven and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature (about another hour). Allowing the cheesecake to cool will help prevent it from "sweating" in the refrigerator.
• Chill the cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least four hours. Overnight is best.

All About the Oreos

Use Authentic Oreos

Making Oreos must not be that easy because the knock-off brands are never as good as the real thing. The generic brand that comes the closest is Tuxedos by Signature Kitchens. These are sold at Safeway and Albertsons. Still, Oreos are noticeably better. 

If you want the best cookies & cream crust, you have to buy authentic Oreos. 

You will also want to buy the party sized, regular Oreos for this recipe (not double stuffed).

The original Oreos, as opposed to double-stuffed, make the best crumbs for the cheesecake crust. Full disclosure: I prefer regular Oreos to double-stuffed Oreos regardless.

Do not use Double Stuff Oreos

There is some science to back up my opinion to not use double-stuff Oreos in this recipe. Food scientist Bruno Xavier examined Oreo cookies on behalf of the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Xavier notes that the Oreo filling is not a dairy product in that it uses no cream. This means that the “cream” in the Oreo is not “cream” at all–it’s “creme.” Pursuant to the FDA, “cream” is a dairy product and “creme” is non-dairy. Instead of cream, the Oreo creme is made with (among other things) oil, and Dr. Xavier says it is likely mostly palm oil.

Therefore, the recipe must take into account that Oreos already have their own oil. Consequently, I use less butter in this crust recipe than I do for my main Graham Cracker Crust recipe for cheesecake. The creme within the Oreo acts as an additional source of fat and moisture to make up for the difference. If you were to use double-stuff Oreos, you would double the amount of oil in the crust (at least by mass, according to truthinadvertising.org).

Using the Oreos

You purchase the party-size package of Oreos because it contains four rows of cookies–just enough for this recipe.

Two rows are for the crust, a row-and-a-half is for the filling, and the final half-row is to garnish the top.

To make the crumbs for the crust, use two sleeves from the Oreo package and grind them up in a food processor. This should be about 30 cookies and that makes approximately 2 ½ cups of crumbs.

To add the Oreos to the filling, there are a few options:

1. You can put the row-and-a-half worth of Oreos in a gallon-size ziplock bag and smash them up with a rolling pin. Just be careful not to smash them up too much that they become crumbs.
2. You can break them apart into fourths (approximately) just using your hands.
3. You can actually cut them into fourths with a knife.

I personally do option 2. I just take a couple in my hand and squeeze them so they break into chunks. It doesn’t matter that they are not uniform in size (in fact I like it.) This method also prevents them from getting too smashed up and it goes by pretty quickly.

When I’m adding the cookies I think about it this way…. When I’m eating cookies and cream ice cream, I like when I get a scoop that has a giant chunk of cookie in it. I feel like I hit the jackpot.

I try to do the same thing with the cheesecake. If there are a few big pieces of cookie in the batter, that’s going to be an awesome slice. But if all the pieces of cookie are that big, it’s not as special to get a big piece.

As for garnishing the cheesecake, do not add Oreos on top until you are ready to serve it. If you refrigerate the Oreo cookies on top, they will get stale and soft.

When you are ready to garnish, crumble the cookies the same way you did for the batter and place it on the cheesecake in way that looks good to you.

A Note on the Cream Cheese

You will see that the recipe calls for two different types of cream cheese. That’s not a typo.

I’ve explained this in detail in my Ultimate World’s Best Cheesecake Recipe, but the gist is that your cheesecake needs to use Philadelphia Cream Cheese. But I found that using only Philadelphia Creme Cheese seems to make a cheesecake that is too soft.

Using a different cream cheese along with Philadelphia seems to create a better balance of creamy and thick. I recommend Lucerne brand from Safeway or Albertsons. But if you don’t have that, just use another mid-level cream cheese. The only one I have tried that I don’t recommend is the Great Value brand from Walmart. I wish I could recommend it because it’s inexpensive for cream cheese, but every time I’ve used it, my cheesecake has ended up with a playdoughy texture.

Final Tips!

• I like a thick, flat layer of crust. It ensures every bite of cheesecake has the optimum ratio of crust to cheesecake (in my humble opinion). If you want crust up the sides, there should be enough to do that.
• I do not pre-bake my crusts, so this recipe does not call for pre-baking.
• I do not believe in the water bath, so this recipe does not require a water bath.
• If the cheesecake appears a little jiggly after baking in the oven, realize that is normal. It will reach its final form through the refrigeration process.
• The texture of the cheesecake is better after it has been able to sit in the refrigerator overnight.
• Before unclasping the spring form pan, run a knife around the edges of the cheesecake. This will help separate the cheesecake from the pan.

The post Oreo Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Recipe appeared first on Go Sweet Fox.

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White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Recipe

This cheesecake is loaded with white chocolate chunks and bright, lively raspberries on top of a thick graham cracker crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cheesecake

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Chilling 4 hours hours

Total Time 7 hours hours

Author Go Sweet Fox

Equipment

• 1 Spring form pan, 9 in.
• KitchenAid (or mixer of your choice)

Ingredients

The Graham Cracker Crust

• 2½ C Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• ¾ C Melted Butter

The Cheesecake

• 16 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 16 oz Lucerne Cream Cheese
• 1¼ C Sugar
• ½ C Sour cream
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 C White Chocolate Chunks see post on choosing white chocolate
• 1½ C Frozen raspberries see post on why frozen

Instructions

Making the Graham Cracker Crust:

• Prepare the spring-form pan. Place parchment paper at the bottom of the pan and lightly spray the paper and sides of the pan with cooking spray. You can line the sides with parchment paper as well, but I found that to be unnecessary.
• Place the graham cracker crumbs in a medium bowl.
• Mix the cinnamon into the graham cracker crumbs.
• Melt the butter (the flavor of the crust can be more toasted if you brown the butter. To do this, stir the butter over medium heat. It will start to bubble and then the bubbling will go back down. It should start to brown shortly thereafter).
• Add the melted butter into the bowl and mix with a whisk until evenly moistened.
• Pour the crust into the pan and press the crust around the pan evenly using the bottom of a flat cup. (Note: I prefer a thicker, flat crust so that there is an equal amount of crust in each bite. If you wish to have the crust go up the sides, you can do so by pressing the crust against the sides of the pan.)

The White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Filling:

• Preheat the oven to 250°F.
• Place all of the cream cheese into the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Using the beater attachment (not the whisk), mix the cream cheese until smooth. Medium speed is fine. Do not worry about overmixing the cream cheese. You need to make sure it is smooth at this step (and before you add the eggs).
• Add the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Continue mixing. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl using a spatula. You will mix until it looks smooth and uniform in color.
• Add the eggs, two at a time. You only mix until the eggs are incorporated into the mix (ie: uniform in color). You do not want to overbeat the eggs. I used the KitchenAid at low speed and finish with a hand whisk just to ensure no eggs are missed.
• Add white chocolate chunks to the batter.
• Add frozen raspberries to the batter.
• Mix gently by hand until well incorporated.
• Gently pour the cheesecake mix onto the crust in the spring form pan.
• You can even out the top of the cheesecake with a spatula or by lightly tapping the bottom of the pan flatly against the countertop.

Baking the Cheesecake:

• Bake the cheesecake at 250°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Place the cheesecake on the top rack so it is in the center of the oven. Also, place a large cookie sheet on the bottom rack beneath the cheesecake. The cheesecake may "weep" extra moisture from the butter or fat from the cream cheese. The cookie sheet will catch this and help avoid mess in the oven.
• After the intial baking, turn off the oven and crack it open slightly. You can wedge a hot pad against the oven door to stop it from closing all the way. This will vent the oven while allowing the residual heat to continue the baking process. Allow the cheesecake to sit in the oven for an additional 60 minutes.
• After this second hour, the center of the cheesecake should still be a little jiggly. Remove it from the oven and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature (about another hour). Allowing the cheesecake to cool will help prevent it from "sweating" in the refrigerator.
• Chill the cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours. Overnight is best.

Backstory to the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake recipe

When I set out to make the Ultimate World’s Best Cheesecake, one thing I discovered is that many people preferred to try lots of different flavors of cheesecake rather than having one big cheesecake of a single flavor. I therefore began specializing in making personal-sized cheesecakes.

I made these cheesecakes in 4-inch spring form pans. Each batch of the Ultimate World’s Best Cheesecake would make five 4-inch cheesecakes. This means that instead of having one cheesecake flavor, you would end up with 5 flavors.

The white chocolate raspberry cheesecake was one of the favorite cheesecakes.

What a fascinating backstory, right?

Selecting the White Chocolate

When I was developing this recipe, I was trying to balance cost and quality because I was considering retailing the cheesecakes. For instance, if people only want to spend $7 on a 4-inch cheesecake, I can’t have expensive ingredients that would cost over $7 to produce. I had to consider the profit margin.

As part of the testing process, I tried making the cheesecake with a variety of types of white chocolate–from expensive white chocolate with real cocoa butter to cheapo white flavor chips.

If you’ve followed my recipes, you probably know the outcome….

By and large, people cannot tell the difference between a cheesecake with expensive white chocolate and a cheesecake with plain old white chocolate flavor chips. There is a difference–better white chocolate creates chunks that are smoother in your mouth. But the difference is miniscule.

So if you are deciding what white chocolate to use, I personally do not think it really matters.

That being said, it may be more emotionally satisfying to know that the cheesecake has higher-quality white chocolate rather than generic store-brand vanilla chips. So, to me, that’s the litmus test–if you feel better about having better chocolate, use that.

But if I’m making this cheesecake for my family, we don’t really care about fanciness, so I use the cheapest white chocolate chips I can buy.

If you are using a Lindt bar (or I supposed any other chocolate), about 8 oz should be fine. That would be two Lindt white chocolate bars.

You should not melt the white chocolate

At the time I’m posting this, the top Google results for white chocolate raspberry cheesecake recipes instruct you to melt the white chocolate in cream and then add the melted white chocolate to the cheesecake batter. (At the time of posting, the top three white chocolate raspberry cheesecake recipes where from, respectively, Allrecipes, Let’s Dish Recipes, and House of Nash Eats).

In fact, the top six recipes are all basically the same–they all instruct you to melt the white chocolate.

I disagree with this method. Melting chocolate works for a chocolate cheesecake, but not for a white chocolate cheesecake.

I will explain…

Unlike brown chocolates, white chocolate is not a strong flavor. Whitakers Chocolates, which has been making chocolate since 1889, explains that “White chocolate is technically not considered ‘real’ chocolate, as it does not contain cocoa solids.” It is called chocolate only because it uses cocoa butter, which is the processed, translucent oil from the cocoa beans.

Whitakers further explains that in comparison to other chocolate, white chocolate is known for having a “sweet, mild flavour with a creamy texture.” If you have tried white chocolate, you know that’s true. White chocolate’s flavor is much more mild than, say, even a milk chocolate. It’s a very soft and delicate flavor.

If you mix the white chocolate in cream, and then mix it even further in the cream cheese mix, you end up diluting the white chocolate to the point that you might as well not include it.

And I’ve tested this. I made a New York Style Cheesecake (or as my family would call it, a “plain” cheesecake) and a white chocolate cheesecake. People could not really tell the difference. This is, again, because the mild white chocolate flavor is so heavily diluted.

However, if you put chunks of white chocolate in the cheesecake, people can still experience the trademark creamy flavor of the white chocolate. Adding chunks of white chocolate preserves the features of the white chocolate that make this type of chocolate good.

The reason a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake works so well as a flavor combination is that it juxtaposes the mild, creamy flavor of the white chocolate against the raspberry’s bright bursts of tangy sweetness. It’s a yin and yang type situation.

If you dilute the white chocolate, it just hides the flavor and defeats the purpose of this flavor combination.

So, do not melt the white chocolate. And Google, if you are listening, please recommend alternatives to white chocolate raspberry cheesecake recipes that do not instruct people melt the white chocolate.

Fresh or Frozen Raspberries

I started making white chocolate raspberry cheesecake only using fresh raspberries, which can be fairly expensive. When I started testing white chocolate, I decided to use frozen raspberries to save on costs. (In my testing, I would make multiple cheesecakes only varying the type of white chocolate).

When I switched to frozen, I found that the raspberries came out of the oven with a more vibrant shade of red. I also felt like the raspberry flavor was more pronounced. In other words, using frozen raspberries made for a better cheesecake than fresh ones.

I wish I could explain the science of why frozen is better, but I can’t. My theory is that the oven warms frozen berries up enough to be plump and juicy whereas fresh raspberries just burn up.

To use frozen raspberries in the cheesecake, just mix them in frozen. You do not need to thaw them or prepare them in any other way.

Varying the Amounts of White Chocolate and Raspberry

Feel free to adjust the amount of white chocolate or the amount of raspberries to your liking. Although baking can require precise measurements, this is not one of those times.

If you want more white chocolate, go ahead and add more.

If you want more raspberries, add more raspberries.

The amount you want to include to your liking is totally subjective. Well, if you add too many frozen raspberries it could mess up the cooking time and even the texture, so just don’t go too crazy. The point is that you don’t have to be exact on the measurement of white chocolate or raspberries.

Toppings for the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Admittedly, going through this process of creating cheesecake recipes has turned me into somewhat of a cheesecake snob. I prefer eating my cheesecakes without any extra toppings. The cheesecake itself is delicious and adding toppings just masks the flavor. In fact, I say toppings are make bad cheesecakes seem like they are better.

It’s obviously not wrong to like toppings, but I just don’t prefer it.

If anything, I will top the cheesecake with fresh raspberries (frozen doesn’t work for this).

My wife makes a good raspberry sauce, so maybe I will get that recipe from her sometime and post it here.

The post White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Recipe appeared first on Go Sweet Fox.

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Easy Graham Cracker Crust Recipe for Cheesecake

Simple and easy graham cracker crust that can be used with any cheesecake recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword crust

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Author Go Sweet Fox

Ingredients

• ¾ C Butter, melted
• 2½ C Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 2 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

• Prepare the spring-form pan by placing parchment paper at the bottom and lightly spray the paper and sides of the pan with cooking spray. You can line the sides with parchment papers as well, but I found that to be unnecessary.
• Melt the butter (the flavor of the crust can be more toasted if you brown the butter. To do this, stir the butter over medium heat. It will start to bubble and then the bubbling will go back down. It should start to brown shortly thereafter).
• Put the graham cracker crumbs in a medium bowl.
• Mix the cinnamon into the graham cracker crumbs.
• Add the melted butter into the bowl and mix with a whisk until moistened.
• Place graham cracker crust mix into the spring form pan.
• Press the crust around the pan evenly using the bottom of a flat cup. (Note: I prefer a thicker, flat crust so that there is an equal amount of crust in each bite. If you wish to have the crust go up the sides, you can do so by pressing the crust against the sides of the pan, but your crust will be thinner.)

This Graham Cracker Crust is not Pre-Baked

Some recipes you will see online will require you to pre-bake the crust. I tried this many times with many cheesecakes and the outcome has no real difference. All it does is make it take longer to make.

I say cut out the unnecessary steps and just bake the crust and the cheesecake together.

That being said, I have not tested this crust recipe with any desserts other than cheesecake. If you are looking to use a graham cracker crust in a pie or other dessert, my guess is that this recipe would work. However, I have not tested this hypothesis.

But I know this crust recipe is great for baking a cheesecake!

Toasted Graham Cracker Crust

I personally like browning the butter. My wife also prefers it.

When you add the browned butter to the graham cracker and cinnamon bowl, it just smells so good.

When you brown the butter, you should stir it constantly. It will start to bubble and then the bubbling will subside slightly. Once this occurs, it will start to brown. The browning process will leave toasted, grainy-looking specs. These specs are, as I understand it, toasted milk solids. Milk solids are what you get when you remove all the moisture from milk. They are basically powdered milk.

When you brown the butter, you are toasting the powdered milk that is hidden within the butter.

Now that I’ve expressed this preference for browning the butter, I have to tell you that if you gave me a crust made from regular melted butter and one made from browned butter, I probably couldn’t tell the difference.

But browning butter is fun to do, leaves a great aroma, and sounds sophisticated, so what’s not to like about it?

I know, I know… I just said I don’t want to waste the time to pre-bake the crust because it makes no noticeable difference to the crust. And now I’m saying I like to brown the butter even though it takes longer and makes no significant difference in the taste of the crust.

If that’s what you’re thinking, I don’t know what to tell you. I think browning the butter adds a coolness factor to the cheesecake whereas pre-baking the crust does not.

If you want to feel cool, brown the butter!

The Graham Cracker Crumbs

I do not make the graham cracker crumbs from scratch. I just buy graham cracker crumbs. I do this for two reasons:

First, pre-made graham cracker crumbs do just fine. There is not a particularly compelling reason to grind your own crumbs. It’s a lot of work for very little benefit.

Second, while I have not tested this specifically, it seems to me that pre-made crumbs are drier than graham crackers. I think this makes a better overall consistency to the crust. Again, I have done any sort of moisture testing. I just think pre-made graham cracker crumbs have a better feel.

I also don’t think there is that much of a coolness factor to turning graham crackers into crumbs.

“Hey, guess what?… I made my own graham cracker crumbs.”

“Oh cool, how did you do that?”

“Oh…I just took graham crackers and smushed them into crumbs.”

“Congratulations.”

See, it’s just not that cool.

If you want to grind up your own graham cracker crumbs, I would recommend that you use a food processor to make sure they are finely ground.

I’ve tried to smash them in a plastic baggie with a roller. It doesn’t work that well.

Conclusion

This graham cracker crust recipe for cheesecake is fast and easy. I like the crust flat and evenly dispersed. Doing so ensures each bite of cheesecake has an even amount of crust. But the crust is versatile. If you like crust on the sides of your cheesecake, you can press the crust against the sides of the pan. You can do it your way.

What’s your preference for the crust? Let me know in the comments.

The post Easy Graham Cracker Crust Recipe for Cheesecake appeared first on Go Sweet Fox.

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Key Lime Cheesecake Recipe

A pleasantly tart key lime cheesecake with graham cracker crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cheesecake

Author Go Sweet Fox

Ingredients

For the Graham Cracker Crust

• ¾ C Melted butter
• 2½ C Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 2 tsp Cinnamon

For the Cheesecake

• 16 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese room temperature
• 16 oz Lucerne Cream Cheese room temperature
• 1¼ C Sugar
• ½ C Sour Cream
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 4 Large Eggs room temperature
• 12 Key Limes See post regarding types of limes

Instructions

The Graham Cracker Crust

• Prepare the spring-form pan. Place parchment paper at the bottom on the pan and lightly spray the paper and sides of the pan with cooking spray. You can line the sides with parchment paper as well, but I found that to be unnecessary.
• Place the graham cracker crumbs in a medium bowl.
  2½ C Graham Cracker Crumbs
• Mix the cinnamon into the graham cracker crumbs
  2 tsp Cinnamon
• Melt the butter (the flavor of the crust can be more toasted if you brown the butter. To do this, stir the butter over medium heat. It will start to bubble and then the bubbling will go back down. It should start to brown shortly thereafter).
  ¾ C Melted butter
• Add the melted butter into the bowl and mix with a whisk until evenly moistened.
• Pour the crust into the pan and press the crust around the pan evenly using the bottom of a flat cup. (Note: I prefer a thicker, flat crust so that there is an equal amount of crust in each bite. If you wish to have the crust go up the sides, you can do so by pressing the crust against the sides of the pan.)

The Key Lime Cheesecake Filling

• Preheat the oven to 250°F.
• Place all of the cream cheese into the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Using the beater attachment (not the whisk), mix the cream cheese until smooth. Medium speed is fine. Do not worry about overmixing the cream cheese. You need to make sure it is smooth at this step (and before you add the eggs).
  16 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 16 oz Lucerne Cream Cheese
• Add the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Continue mixing. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl using a spatula. You will mix until it looks smooth and uniform in color.
  1¼ C Sugar, ½ C Sour Cream, 2 tsp Vanilla
• Add the eggs, two at a time. You only mix until the eggs are incorporated into the mix (ie: uniform in color). You do not want to overbeat the eggs. I've use the KitchenAid at low speed and finish with a hand whisk just to ensure no eggs are missed.
  4 Large Eggs
• Cut the key limes in half and squeeze the juice through a strainer into a small bowl. This should make about ½ C of key lime juice.
  12 Key Limes
• Zest the rinds of limes into the bowl – leaving four key limes unzested (you will zest these on top of the key lime cheesecake once it is done).
• Pour the key lime juice and zest into the cheesecake mixture. Mix by hand until batter is an even consistency.
• Gently pour the cheesecake mix onto the crust in the spring form pan.
• You can even out the top of the cheesecake with a spatula or by lightly tapping the bottom of the pan flatly against the countertop.

Bake the Cheesecake

• Bake the cheesecake at 250°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Place the cheesecake on the top rack so it is in the center of the oven. Also, place a large cookie sheet on the bottom rack beneath the cheesecake. The cheesecake may "weep" extra moisture from the butter or fat from the cream cheese. The cookie sheet will catch this and help avoid mess in the oven.
• After one hour, turn off the oven and crack it open slightly. You can wedge a hot pad against the oven door to stop it from closing all the way. This will vent the oven while allowing the residual heat to continue the baking process. Allow the cheesecake to sit in the oven for an additional 60 minutes.
• After this second hour, the center of the cheesecake should still be a little jiggly. Remove it from the oven and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature (about another hour). Allowing the cheesecake to cool will help prevent it from "sweating" in the refrigerator.
• Zest the remaining lime rinds evenly over the cheesecake.
• Chill the cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours. Overnight is best.

Backstory to the Key Lime Cheesecake Recipe

Key Lime Pie with a graham cracker crust is one of my favorite pies. So when I decided to try to become the Cheesecake Guy, key lime cheesecake was on the top of my list of cheesecakes to make.

My favorite thing about the Key Lime Cheesecake is that it has an initial tartness but mellows out to a nice, sweet cheesecake flavor. I especially love how it combines with the Graham Cracker Crust.

Key Limes vs. Regular Limes

Key limes are much smaller than regular limes. Other than that, I’m honestly not too sure if there’s a big difference. There are conflicting messages out there. For instance, a trained pastry chef Elizabeth LaBau, of SugarHero.com, explains that key limes have “a higher acidity level than regular limes, which gives them a more intense and tart flavor.” Meanwhile, a US citrus producer out of Texas, US Citrus, claims the exact opposite–that “regular limes have a lower PH and higher acidity than key limes.” America’s Test Kitchen appears to have tested the acidity, but the article is behind a paywall and I’m not going to access that.

What I can tell you, is that my taste buds cannot distinguish a notable difference between a regular lime or a key lime. They both taste like lime to me. I’ve also tested Key Lime Cheesecake with freshly squeezed juice from a regular lime, freshly squeezed juice from key limes, and lime juice from the little plastic bottles from the grocery store. There is honestly no tangible difference in the outcome. They all taste like a lime cheesecake.

I ran over to the local grocery store to see if I could get a lime and key lime to compare them. I found that the producers of the limes have a “tartness” chart on the bags of each kind of lime. Both limes have the same level of tartness on this chart. This means that the producers of the limes are not touting a difference in tartness.

I only use key limes for one reason and one reason only…I want to call my cheesecake a “Key Lime” cheesecake instead of a “Lime” cheesecake. “Key Lime” just sounds more exotic than regular old lime. Of course, a regular old lime is actually a Persian lime. So I supposed I could call my cheesecake a “Persian Lime Cheesecake.” That sounds pretty exotic as well.

So whether you use key lime, Persian limes, or whatever limes are in those plastic squeeze bottles, just use a half-cup and your Key Lime Cheesecake should turn out just fine.

That being said, you should definitely add the zest. I think having the look of the zest adds at the very least a placebo effect to the flavor. I just feel like the cheesecake has more limey goodness when I can see the bright green zest. It presents better overall.

A Note about the Zest

In the picture of the Key Lime Cheesecake I used, I tried baking it with a little strip of lime rind. Do not do that. Baking a part of the lime will make it a dull, bland green which is not pleasant to look at. And while you can eat some lime zest without a problem, a strip of lime rind is not pleasant to eat.

Add rind zest at the end, after the cheesecake has cooled. That will provide the best optics and eating experience.

Storing and Freezing a Cheesecake

Cheesecake needs to be refrigerated. This is why, to my chagrin, cheesecake is not a cottage food. I’ve found that if you keep a cheesecake covered, it is at its best for 2-3 days; maybe 4. After about four days it seems the cheesecake hardens on the outside. It becomes significantly less pleasant. Also, I just grow uneasy about eating cheesecake that’s been sitting in the fridge for over three days.

If I’m worrying, “Is this still good?,” it makes for a less enjoyable eating experience.

If we don’t plan on eating cheesecake right away, we’ve had good luck freezing cheesecake. To do this, double-wrap it completely in Saran wrap, but only after it has gone through the full baking and refrigeration process. This will allow the cheesecake to properly set in the normal course. Do not freeze it with toppings. The toppings never seem to take freezing as well as the cheesecake itself.

To thaw, place it in the refrigerator the night before you want to eat it. When it thaws, it is as good as new. Cheesecake handles the freezing and thawing process quite well.

How long you can keep a cheesecake in the freezer is, like the key lime issue, another topic where you will find mixed statements on the internet. Southern Living Magazine says “not longer than 3-6 months.” Other writers say “up to 2 months.”

I have not tested how long a cheesecake will last frozen. I don’t think I’ve kept a frozen cheesecake for longer than 2 weeks. Why would you be freezing a cheesecake for so long? How much freezer space do you have where you are okay with having a giant cheesecake in there for months at a time?

If you have questions…

The recipe should be pretty straightforward, but if you have a question or comment, drop a line below. I may or may not answer it.

The post Key Lime Cheesecake Recipe appeared first on Go Sweet Fox.

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The Ultimate World’s Best Basic Cheesecake Recipe (no water bath)

I set out on a journey to find the world's best cheesecake recipe. I found it. The crust is thick but not hard. The cheesecake is smooth and neither too firm nor too squishy. It's the ultimate, world's best cheesecake.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cheesecake

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Cooling and Chilling 4 hours hours

Total Time 7 hours hours

Author Go Sweet Fox

Equipment

• KitchenAid Mixer
• Spring Form Pan 9 or 10 inch
• Parchment Paper (cut to fit the spring form pan)
• Flat Bottomed Cup (or something similar to press the crust)

Ingredients

The Graham Cracker Crust

• ¾ C Butter, melted
• 2½ C Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 2 tsp cinnamon

The Cheesecake

• 16 oz Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese
• 16 oz Lucerne Brand Cream Cheese (see more in notes)
• 1¼ C Sugar
• ½ C Sour cream
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 4 Large eggs

Instructions

To make the Graham Cracker Crust

• Prepare the spring-form pan by placing parchment paper at the bottom and lightly spray the paper and sides of the pan with cooking spray. You can line the sides with parchment papers as well, but I found that to be unnecessary.
• Melt the butter (the flavor of the crust can be more toasted if you brown the butter. To do this, stir the butter over medium heat. It will start to bubble and then the bubbling will go back down. It should start to brown shortly thereafter).
  ¾ C Butter, melted
• Put graham cracker crumbs in a medium bowl.
  2½ C Graham Cracker Crumbs
• Mix the cinnamon into the graham cracker crumbs
  2 tsp cinnamon
• Add the melted butter into the bowl and mix with a whisk until moistened.
• Place graham cracker crust mix into the spring form pan.
• Press the crust around the pan evenly using the bottom of a flat cup. (Note: I prefer a thicker, flat crust so that there is an equal amount of crust in each bite. If you wish to have the crust go up the sides, you can do so by pressing the crust against the sides of the pan.)
• Note: I do not pre-bake the crust.

To make the cheesecake filling

• Preheat the oven to 250°F.
• Place all of the cream cheese into the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Using the beater attachment (not the whisk), mix the cream cheese until smooth. Medium speed is fine. Do not worry about overmixing the cream cheese. You need to make sure it is smooth at this step (and before you add the eggs).
  16 oz Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese, 16 oz Lucerne Brand Cream Cheese
• Add the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Continue mixing. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl using a spatula. You will mix until it looks smooth and uniform in color.
  1¼ C Sugar, ½ C Sour cream, 2 tsp Vanilla
• Add the eggs, two at a time. You only mix until the eggs are incorporated into the mix (ie: uniform in color). You do not want to overbeat the eggs. I've use the KitchenAid at low speed and finish with a hand whisk just to ensure no eggs are missed.
  4 Large eggs
• Pour the cheesecake mix onto the crust in the spring form pan.
• You can even out the top of the cheesecake with a spatula or by lightly tapping the bottom of the pan flatly against the countertop.

Baking the Cheesecake

• Bake the cheesecake at 250°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Place the cheesecake on the top rack so it is in the center of the oven. Also, place a large cookie sheet on the bottom rack beneath the cheesecake. The cheesecake may "weep" extra moisture from the butter or fat from the cream cheese. The cookie sheet will catch this and help avoid mess in the oven.
• After one hour, turn off the oven and crack it open slightly. You can wedge a hot pad against the oven door to stop it from closing all the way. This will vent the oven while allowing the residual heat to continue the baking process. All the cheesecake to sit in the oven for an additional 60 minutes.
• After this second hour, the center of the cheesecake should still be a little jiggly. Remove it from the oven and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature (about another hour). Allowing the cheesecake to cool will help prevent it from "sweating" in the refrigerator.
• Chill the cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Overnight is best.

Notes

Note on cream cheese: Using only Philadelphia cream cheese makes the cheesecake too soft. You have to find a mix of cream cheese that produces the texture to your liking. I use half Philadelphia and half Lucerne. Lucerne cream cheese is available at Safeway and Albertsons. I’ve tried other mid-priced cream cheese brands, but Lucerne always turns out the way I like it. 

I will not use Walmart (Great Value) cream cheese. It just does not turn out well. It seemed to always come out too firm.

Creating the Ultimate World’s Best Cheesecake Recipe

The Ultimate World’s Best Cheesecake Recipe is the product of my cheesecake journey. I started out thinking that I would make and sell a cheesecake that was universally loved. I therefore tried and tweaked numerous cheesecake recipes and variations. I also tried different quality and price points of ingredients in the cheesecake recipes. The point was to find the recipe and ingredients that would be the definitive world’s best cheesecake.

This cheesecake recipe is the product of all of that testing.

I certainly hope you will try it and enjoy it.

But one lesson I learned in all of this testing is that tastes are totally subjective. So if you try this recipe, I’d be interested to hear your view!

Tips for Prepping the Pan

You first need a piece of parchment paper to line the bottom of your spring-form pan. Unless you have a pre-cut and pre-sized piece of parchment, you will have to cut this yourself.

To do so, remove the bottom of the spring-form pan. Place the bottom of the springform pan on top of a sheet of parchment paper. Using a pencil, trace around the pan bottom. You can then cut the circle out using the pencil line as a guide. Cut on the inside of the pencil line so that the lead tracings will not be on the paper that is used in the pan.

You can also cut a piece of parchment paper to line the sides of the pan. To do this, you can use the sides of the spring-form pan to get the right width. However, I do not use parchment on the sides. I think it creates more work than it is worth.

Once the parchment paper is set, spray the entire inside of the pan with cooking spray. Yes, I even spray some on the parchment paper itself.

Your spring-form pan is now ready.

Tips for making the Cheesecake Graham Cracker Crust

You can melt or brown the butter

If you melt butter in the microwave, go low and slow. If you heat it too fast, it will pop and spray butter everywhere.

I melt butter in the microwave by first cutting it into 1-tablespoon slices and then evenly distributing those slices in a bowl. I then place it in the microwave for 20 seconds at 50% power. Check it and stir. If it needs to melt more, do 10-second intervals at 50% power, checking and stirring until it is melted.

But more often I melt butter on the stovetop. I place it in 1-tablespoon slices in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it is completely melted.

Browning the butter can give it a more rich, nutty flavor. To brown the butter, keep it over the heat until it starts to bubble aggressively. Stir constantly. Eventually, the bubbling will start to go down. This is because the moisture in the butter is burning off. You will begin to see what looks like brown, grainy specs at the bottom of the pan. This is toasted milk solids. It is the brown part of browned butter. I let the butter continue to toast until the liquid turns a light brown color.

You do not need to pre-bake the crust

As I was creating this recipe, I noted that a lot of cheesecake recipes out there have you pre-bake the crust. I started out doing that but then I tried making cheesecake without doing so. It was just fine. If there is any difference, it is negligible.

I like skipping the pre-baking of the crust because it just adds more time to the prep. Since there is no substantial difference in the result, I say skip it.

Options on crust layout

This graham cracker crust recipe is designed to be a thick, flat crust. The reason for this is that I like my cheesecake to have a good amount of crust with it. When I order cheesecake at a restaurant, the crust is usually thin until you get to the end, which has crust from the bottom and sides. I always felt like the extra crust was better than the thin crust. So this recipe gives the entire cheesecake an equal amount of thick crust.

To make a flat crust, just pour the crust mix into the prepared spring-form pan. Using the bottom of a flat cup (or measuring cup), press the crust down into the pan. You are not trying to smash it, you are just giving enough pressure to form it into a flat layer.

If you like your cheesecake with a thinner crust on the bottom and crust up the sides, you can do that with this graham cracker crust recipe. To do this, I dump the crust in the middle of the prepared pan and pack the sides of the pan first, using my fingers. I then press the bottom of the crust with the remainder.

Tips for making the Cheesecake Batter

The Cream Cheese Mix

I tested recipes changing only the type of cream cheese and I even began testing cream cheese combinations. I learned from this that using only Philadelphia cream cheese seemed to make a cheesecake that was too fluffy. Great Value cream cheese from Walmart made the worst cheesecake (not disgusting but just the worst of the bunch).

The cream cheese blend of Philadelphia and Lucurne produced the cheesecake that had the best texture. I was trying to stay away from Philadelphia cream cheese because it is an expensive brand of cream cheese. However, I found that if you are making cheesecake, it is not as good without Philadelphia brand cream cheese.

Do You Need Room Temperature Ingredients?

You will read in most cheesecake recipes that the ingredients need to be at room temperature. I only partly agree with this. When you are mixing the batter, you want to have an even, smooth texture. Having your cream cheese at room temperature seems to make the mixing faster.

However, I’ve made cheesecake with cold cream cheese and cold eggs. I initially did this because I did not want to wait for them to warm to room temperature. I’ve also never figured out a way to easily warm cream cheese or eggs.

The result was the same–an outstanding cheesecake!

Now, I don’t even worry about the temperature of the ingredients.

What type of vanilla to use

I tested types of vanilla by baking versions of this cheesecake that changed only the type and quality of vanilla. I then did a taste test with some friends and neighbors. I did this to see if people would generally prefer the cheesecake with the most expensive and highest quality vanilla. I hypothesized that the best vanilla would produce the best cheesecake.

That wasn’t the case.

There was no strong consensus.

The cheesecake people preferred the most (by a very slim margin) was the one with the cheapest imitation vanilla. My new hypothesis is that people in general are not well versed enough in vanilla flavoring that they can distinguish between expensive authentic vanilla and inexpensive imitation vanilla.

With this outcome in mind, I say that you can use whatever type of vanilla you have on hand. Also, feel free to test different vanillas yourself. If you do, let me know what you find in the comments.

Get the right texture before adding eggs

Adding eggs should be the last step to making the batter. The batter can take a beating beforehand. I once saw Gordon Ramsay make a cheesecake. He said that you never have to worry about over-beating cheesecake batter.

That being said, egg proteins will break down with beating. For instance, if you beat eggs too much, you will end up with a meringue.

To avoid overbeating the eggs, add them at the end and mix them at a slow speed just until they are well incorporated. Once you add the eggs, take it easy on the batter.

Cheesecake does not need a water bath

I did some research on why a water bath is necessary. I could find random blogs that would say that it helps regulate the temperature around the cheesecake. I could not find an actual scientific source. As far as I can tell, the water bath could just be an urban legend or a practice that has been perpetuated due to custom.

I suspect this idea is a carryover from woodfire ovens. I could see these types of ovens needing a water bath because the temperature was probably more difficult to regulate in these old ovens. Modern-day ovens don’t have this same issue.

Even if it is true that a water bath can more evenly disperse oven temperature, it leads to more problems than it solves.
For instance, most people will say to wrap your spring form pan in foil.

Have you ever thought that foil would be great for waterproofing? If you’re going on a river run and you don’t want your phone or keys to get wet, would you grab a square of foil?

No, you wouldn’t.

Water will find its way through any wrinkles in the foil and will get into your spring form pan. Once water gets in, you’ll end up with a wet crust.

Now, if you insist on using a water bath, you should not use a spring form pan. You can just use a well-buttered or lined regular cake pan. (To get the cheesecake out, you put it back in the oven long enough to warm up the butter so it will slide out–it works…most of the time). But your cheesecake will be fine without a water bath. Your oven will do just fine in baking the cheesecake without the help of a water bath.

Bake the cheesecake low and slow

I do not like the top of my cheesecake to be browned. I do not like the edges of my cheesecake to be stiff. If you bake a cheesecake at too high of a temperature, you end up with both of these things.

Baking the cheesecake at lower temperatures for a longer time prevents browning, stiff edges, and cracking!

Let the cheesecake cool completely

Once the cheesecake is out of the oven, you need to let it cool to room temperature before you refrigerate it. If you put it in the refrigerator before it cools down completely, the excess heat that would escape as steam will instead pool onto the top of the cheesecake as sweat.

If you let the cheesecake cool to room temperature, that should prevent the sweat.

However, if there is condensation on the top of the cheesecake, just dab it up with a paper towel. No harm done.
Let the cheesecake set in the fridge

Leave the cheesecake in the while it cools and in the refrigerator. The cheesecake will more fully set after being refrigerated for 4 hours. I think it is noticeably better if you can leave it in the fridge at least overnight.

You can cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap, or I actually use a kitchen towel.

Removing the cheesecake from the pan

Once the cheesecake is fully set–meaning it has been refrigerated for at least 4 hours, it can be removed from the spring form pan.

To do this, first run a knife completely around the edges of the cheesecake. This will help separate the cheesecake from the sides of the pan. Then unclip the pan and carefully remove it.

To get the cheesecake off of the base, the easiest way is to put a larger cardboard cake round on top of the cheesecake. Flip it over so the cheesecake is upside down on the cake round. You should then be able to remove the spring form pan base and the parchment paper.

Next, place a second cake round (or the plate or platter you want to use for the cheesecake) on the cheesecake. You should now have the cheesecake sandwiched between two cake rounds. Now carefully bring the cheesecake back to being right-side-up.

Cutting the cheesecake

Cutting the cheesecake is best done with a warm knife. I just run it through hot water and wipe off the water before I cut. I cut all the way down and slide the knife back out while it’s at the bottom of the cheesecake. Do not bring the knife back up and out or it could tear the cheesecake on its way up.

If I’m trying to make it look really nice, I will run it through the hot water before every slice. That keeps the knife clean and warm for each slice. But since I’m not always trying to make it look nice, I more often just do my best to clean off the cheesecake residue with a fork or another knife in between slices.

A Great Base for a Variety of Flavors

One of the greatest features about this cheesecake is that it is a great New York Style cheesecake as is. But if you’d like to add your own flavors, it is a great cheesecake base.

You can experiment by including your own added flavor. I’ve used this cheesecake base to make the following flavors of cheesecake:

• White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
• Cookies & Cream / Oreo Cheesecake
• Chocolate cheesecake
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake
• Key Lime Cheesecake
• Strawberry Cheesecake
• Salted Caramel Cheesecake
• Pumpkin Cheesecake

If you stay tuned, I will share how I make some of these flavors. You can subscribe for update in the sidebar.

For more variety, use 4-inch Pans

If there’s one thing I like more than cheesecakes, it is having a variety of flavors of cheesecake.

For this reason, I specialized in making personal sized cheesecakes using 4-inch pans (purchased from Amazon). Each batch of the Ultimate World’s Best Cheesecake recipe will make approximately five 4-inch cheesecakes.

This means you can make the base, divide the batter into five parts, and end up with five different flavors of cheesecake.

When you do this method, you can bake the mini-cheesecakes all at once. Since each cheesecake is smaller, I bake them for 45 minutes before turning off the oven and venting. Everything else stays the same.

What I love about Cheesecake

Cheesecake takes a long time to make. It’s not one of those desserts where you can decide you want to have it that day. It’s usually best to make it the day before. In fact, I think the cheesecake tastes better after a full day of refrigeration.

I think partly because of the long prep time, and the complicated waterbath situation, people don’t make cheesecake all that often.

Cheesecake is a special dessert for special occassions. I love that about it.

I hope you’ll love it too.

The post The Ultimate World’s Best Cheesecake Recipe (no water bath) appeared first on Go Sweet Fox.