Cheesecakes, step by step

Cheesecakes are a great dessert to make.
They make a statement.
An impression.
They are simple!
You can make a cheesecake one to two days before your party. They keep great. I posted this recipe previously. However, I recently made the cheesecake again and took step by step pictures. I thought it might be helpful to post it again. With a few adjustments, you can use this recipe to create a multitude of different cheesecakes. Variations are at the end.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients

3 – 8oz packages cream cheese – room temperature

1/3 cup white sugar

3 lg eggs – room temperature

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

2 cups (1# 1oz) sour cream – room temperature

9 oz melted white chocolate

Cookies or graham crackers

2-3 T melted butter- optional to mix in with crust, but not needed

1 – 9 inch springform pan

Parchment or wax paper

Blend or crush your cookies or graham crackers.

1. Grease springform pan, fold parchment paper double thick. Clip in the bottom of spring form pan. The edges will hang out, that is ok. Grease the parchment paper well. Mix cookie crumbs and butter, if using. Press into pan and up the sides. Set aside.

2. Put a jellyroll pan half filled with water into oven. Preheat oven to 350*.

3. Cream the cream cheese and sugar until very smooth, 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Beat until incorporated. Mix in the sour cream until blended in, and then add the white chocolate. Mix until blended in, but don’t over mix. Pour into prepared pan.

4. Carefully open oven door, steam will come out, place cheesecake in the jellyroll pan. Add more water if need, pan should be full.

5. Bake cheesecake for 45 minutes. Turn oven off, don’t open the door. Let the cheesecake cool in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let it finish cooling on the counter. Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate 8 – 24 hours.

After your cheesecake is cold you can fix the imperfections. Smooth it down firmly with a knife or spatula dipped in hot water. Sometimes mine crack and sometimes they don't. I have read it has to do with over beating the batter. I am not sure if that is the cause.

6. Remove the sides from the pan, flip the cheesecake over onto a plate.

Remove the bottom of the pan.

Pull off the parchment paper.

Flip back over onto serving plate or cake stand.

8. Garnish with dipped strawberries and chocolate curls.

Enjoy!

Variations...
Fruit Swirl: Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup jam or jelly to the batter before cooking and swirl through with a knife.
Plain: Leave out the white chocolate and up the sugar to 1 cup.
Plain with Fruit Swirl: Make 'Plain' recipe. Add 1/2 cup jam or jelly. Swirl through with knife.
Chocolate: Add 9 oz drk chocolate instead of the white chocolate. If you really like chocolate, you may want to add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of cocoa powder as well.
Chocolate Mocha: Add 9 oz drk chocolate, and 1/2 to 1 tsp coffee flavor.