Hands-on Time: 30 minutes
Total Time:
- Hands-on Time: 30 minutes
- Bake: 40 minutes
- Cool: 2 hours
- Chill: 4 hours
Makes: 12 to 16 servings
- 1½ c finley crushed graham cracker
- ½ c finely chopped walnuts
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- ½ c butter, melted
- 3 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
- 1 c sugar
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ c milk
- 3 slightly beaten eggs
- For crust, in a bowl combine graham crackers, walnuts, the 1 Tbsp sugar, and, if desired, cinnamon. Stir in melted butter. Press crumb mixture onto the bottom and 2″ up the sides of an 8 or 9″ springform pan. Set aside.
- For filling, in a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, the 1 c sugar, flour and vanilla with an electric mixer until combined. Beat in milk until smooth. Stir in eggs.
- Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Place pan in a shallow baking pan. Bake in a 375°F oven 40 to 45 minutes for an 8″ pan, about 35 minutes for a 9″ pan, or until a 2½” area around the outside edge appears set when gently shaken.
- Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a sharp knife, loosen the crust from sides of pan; cool for 30 minutes more. Remove the sides of the pan; cool cheesecake completely on rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours before serving.
I am so excited to share this cheesecake recipe with you. It is the best homemade cheesecake recipe ever! I know it looks longer than any other recipe I’ve posted therefore you may think it’s complicated but that is not the case. Promise. Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook: Special Pink Edition does such a wonderful job with their instructions is what it comes down to. So the length is a good thing.
I’ve been making this recipe for years. If I don’t get to make it any other time during the year, it is a must for the holidays. That was the case this past year.
Every time I make this recipe though I seem to learn something new about it. One year, it was one of many dishes I was making. I had started it and another recipe and realized I was missing ingredients for the second recipe. My wonderful husband was willing and able to jump right in on this recipe, no problem, while I ran to the store. He got into it and saw it through all the way to completion. And it was just as good, if not better I have to admit, than when I’d made it before.
And if you’ve ever made a cheesecake from scratch you’re probably familiar with the inevitable cracks and bubbles that occur during baking and cooling. I’ve heard tricks of adding water to the baking sheet it sits on. Or simply adding a second pan solely for water to the oven while it’s baking. I’ve never tried any of these tricks. But one thing I did learn this last time was to not beat the eggs in. Once the recipe calls for a beater, that’s all I’d use from then on out. But this time, again with my husband’s help, we determined that the recipe specifically said stir, not beat. And low and behold, we had less cracks than ever this time! Totally makes sense now. I was beating too much air into it before. But in the end, cracks or no cracks, it tastes fabulous either way!
Now most likely you have all you need to get started on this recipe right now in your kitchen. My guess is all or almost all of the ingredients and tools, with the exception being a springform pan. You may not be sure what a springform pan is. You may also think you’d rather not bother with getting one to only use once for just this recipe and that it’ll be one more cookware item that’ll sit around taking up space never to be used again. A couple things. One, you will be making this recipe more than once. And two, if all that you use the springform pan for is this recipe, you will have gotten your money’s worth.
So if you can’t tell, I love this recipe. It’s easy and delicious. So delicious that I was in such a rush to add my toppings, heaping, non-proportional whipped cream and all, and gobble it down that I couldn’t be bothered to try to get a better picture of any of the other slices we ate. Speaking of toppings, I highly recommend whipped cream with either the raspberry sauce or strawberries!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!