New York Baked Cheesecake

Goal #35 is to try 20 new recipes.  It is fairly safe to say that I have a stock-standard week-to-week stash of recipes and the repetition is starting to get old, quickly!  9 people live here, and I am the one who does most of the cooking because I love to cook, and I'm generally here most nights.  I also hated doing dishes for a while there but that's not so bad since discovering how long it can take at times to cook for this many people!  My desserts on rotation consist of custard, custard and bananas, self saucing chocolate pudding and apple crumble.  If I'm feeling particularly fancy, you may get peach and apple crumble.  You know, just for something different!

One absolutely delicious piece of cheesecake - so creamy, so yummy!  Job well done, if I do say so myself!

I recently found a recipe for New York Baked Cheesecake (here) and put it in my favourites to come back to.  This usually means that I forget about it.
That said, this was New York Baked Cheesecake - my favourite.  I kept going back to it.  I've never baked a cheesecake in my life, though have had a few (dodgy) attempts at the refridgerated types.  My old house had an oven that doubled as a food-murderer.  This house, not so bad!  Why now.  So last night at 10pm (naturally) I found myself you know, just whipping up a cheesecake.  As you do!
Here is what I learned - I should never have given away my food processor. Using the end of a rolling pin is just so time consuming!

For me - I love a nice thick base, so like the original blogger I thieved the recipe from, I also doubled the biscuits/butter.  It could easily have done without that though and I probably will in the future.  I served it up to 10 willing taste-testers (we had an add-on!) and the verdict came in the form of clean plates.  Even Ty - the cheesecake hater (how are we even compatible!) ate his entire plateful.
So for someone who is particularly crap at baking cakes and sweets - this one turned out fantastically.  Give it a go - it's easy, and it's delicious.

Ingredients

1 x 250g packet of plain sweet biscuits {Nice}
125g unsalted butter, melted
750g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
2 tbs plain flour
4 eggs
1 x 300ml carton of sour cream

Method

♥ Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line the base of a 23cm based springform round tin with non-stick baking paper.
♥ Place the biscuits in a food processor and process until finely crushed. If you don’t have a food processor just put a small hole in the biscuit packet and crush them with a rolling pin and then pour into a bowl.
♥ Add the butter and process until combined. Place into the tin and with the back of a spoon smooth out the base and sides. Place into the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, for 30 minutes to chill.
♥ While the base is chilling, beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon rind in a bowl. Add the flour and the eggs, beating well after adding each. Stir in the sour cream until just combined.
♥ Pour the cream cheese mixture into the base. Place in the oven and bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Once cooked, turn the oven off but leave the cheesecake in the oven until it cools completely {about 2 hours}. Place in the fridge for up to 4 hours to chill.