Cheesecake with Strawberries
Three Cities of Spain
Cheesecake
Yield: 8-10 servings
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 9-½ hrs
Crumb-crust:
1-½ cups (5 oz) finely
ground graham crackers (or vanilla/chocolate wafers, gingersnaps)
5 tablespoons unsalted
butter, melted (add more, if too dry)
⅛ teaspoon salt
Filling:
3 (8 oz) packages
cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup sugar
Topping:
16 oz sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1) Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make crumb crust:
2) Stir together
crust ingredients and press a heaping teaspoon onto bottom of muffin tin cups.
3) Fill right away or
chill up to 2 hours.
Make filling and bake
cake:
4) Beat cream cheese
with an electric mixer until fluffy and add eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla and
sugar, beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated and scraping
down bowl between additions.
5) Pour filling into
crust and bake in middle of oven 20-30 minutes, or until tops begin to crack
but center is still slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken.
6) Let stand in
baking pan on a rack 5 minutes. Leave oven on.
Make topping:
7) Stir together sour
cream and vanilla.
8) Drop spoonfuls of
topping onto cake and spread gently over center, smoothing evenly.
9) Bake cake with
topping 10 minutes.
10) Chill cake,
loosely covered, at least 6 hours.
11) Bring to room
temperature before serving.
*Cooks’ note:
Cheesecake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days.