zoom

    Save to your scrapbook

    New York Cheesecake

    This will be saved to your scrapbook

    You can also add it to one of your existing cookbooks

    *mandatory

    New York Cheesecake

    What makes a cheesecake a New York cheesecake? Oddly, it's Philadelphia cream cheese. A New Yorker invented it in 1872, trying to duplicate French Neufchâtel. The Philadelphia proved popular and New York cheesecakes, from then on, were only made with it. 'Philadelphia' was contemporary slang for quality and had nothing to do with the city. For an authentic slice, try this recipe from Lindy's deli, a famous Broadway haunt in the 1920s.

    • Vegetarian
    • Preparation time: 50 minutes, plus chilling
    • Cooking time: 1 hour, plus cooling
    • Total time: 1 hour 50 minutes, plus chilling and cooling 60 minutes 50 minutes

    Serves: 12

    Ingredients

    • Crust
    • 150g plain flour
    • Grated zest ½ lemon
    • Seeds from ½ vanilla pod
    • 1 large egg yolk
    • 125g butter, diced
    • 50g caster sugar
    • Filling
    • 600g cream cheese
    • 180g caster sugar
    • 1 tbsp plain flour
    • Grated zest of 1 orange
    • Grated zest of 1 lemon
    • Seeds from ½ vanilla pod
    • 2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
    • 2 tbsp double cream

    Method

    1. To prepare the crust, put the flour, caster sugar, lemon zest and vanilla seeds into a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Add the egg yolk and diced butter and process until combined. Tip the mixture out, form into a disc, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Butter a 20cm-diameter springform tin.
    2. For the filling, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, grated zests and vanilla seeds until smoothly blended. Add the eggs and egg yolk one by one, blending thoroughly after each addition. Stir in the cream. Set aside.
    3. Release the base of the springform tin. Take half the chilled dough and roll it out to a 3mm thickness. Place the dough over the tin base and trim the edges. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until set and light golden. Transfer the base with its crust to a rack to cool. Turn down the oven to 140°C, gas mark 1.
    4. Place the springform ring over the base with its crust, and close the spring. Roll out the remaining dough until it is 3mm thick and cut it into long, 4cm-wide strips. Use these to line the inside of the ring, overlapping the strips slightly and pushing the joins together to make sure they stick.
    5. Pour the filling mixture into the tin and level the top. Bake for 1 hour. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and allow it to cool completely, then put it in the fridge until you're ready to serve it. Before serving, loosen the crust from the sides of the tin with a spatula, then unclip the tin.

    Your recipe note

    Edit your recipe note

    Variation

    Keep your kitchen and your wits cool by simply removing Waitrose's pre-baked New York Cheesecake (£3.99/540g) from the fridge when your sweet tooth starts to attack. It's dense, creamy and has a crunchy digestive biscuit base.

    Comments

    Average user rating

    4 stars