Saturday, October 30, 2010

Got a Cheesecake Craving?

The cheesecake craving hit me HARD at the end of last week. All of the ingredients (except for the cream cheese and powdered sugar) are things I almost always have on hand. This recipe was thrown together from my knowledge of baking, and came out PERFECT, literally.

Ingredients:
- 1 8oz package cream cheese
- 2-3 tbs plain yogurt
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 pre-made pie crust
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbs flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
optional: your favorite fruit
Tools: electric mixer, cake tin (or cheesecake tin), plastic scraper

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 9" cake pan and lay out pie dough (or you can use a pre-made graham cracker crust). Bake in oven for 7-10 minutes.
3. On low speed, mix all of your "wet" ingredients: butter, cream cheese, and yogurt. Add vanilla, lemon juice, egg and egg yolks. Continue to mix ingredients until they resemble a pudding-like mixture.
4. Add powdered sugar and flour. Mix well.
5. Next add salt and baking powder. Blend well.
6. Pour into pie crust and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown on top.
7. Let cheesecake cool before cutting (it will sink in a little bit when it cools). I find that a cheesecake always tastes best if I wait 24 hours to eat it...though sometimes I do take it out to eat sooner.

8. When ready to eat, dice up your favorite fruit (I used canned peaches in this instance), and pour over each slice as desired. YUM-YUM!! :)