Absolutely the Best New York Cheesecake (Gluten-Free)

Submitted by 2Bleu

"aka: 'How to Make the Perfect Cheesecake' This recipe includes very detailed instructions for preparation which is the key to any great cheesecake. *This is my signature recipe that I have spent many many hours perfecting the ingredients and techniques for. This is not 'NY Style' but real 'NY Cheesecake'. The end result is a wonderful cheesecake that some will tell you to eat with a towel, because it's like an 'O' in your mouth."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs
• Ingredients: 7
• Yields: 1 cake
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 40 ounces cream cheese
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 16 ounces sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and prep a large spring form pan as follows: Place a sheet of parchment paper over the inside bottom of the springform pan, fit the rim and lock in place. Trim excess paper from the underside of the pan. Place a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil on counter. Place the locked pan in center and raise up the foil to top rim. Crinkle around the outer top of rim. Using some firm butter, fill in the inside lower rim of pan, using your finger to form a smooth lining. (like caulking a bathtub). Place in freezer while you make the batter. You can also grease the sides of the pan and cut parchment to fit around the in sides as well.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar till smooth. Add sour cream, then eggs (one at a time). Add remaining ingredients. Mix on medium speed until well incorporated (about three minutes), scraping down sides of bowl several times while mixing to prevent lumps).
3. Remove the spring form pan from freezer. Place pan onto a dishcloth onto counter and pour batter into pan. (So it's not 'loud' when you temp it).
4. With your palms around the outside rim of the pan, GENTLY lift (about 1") and drop down pan onto the towel. Rotate an inch or so and repeat a few times to raise and release air bubbles from batter. (this will help keep your cheesecake from cracking).
5. Set the spring form pan into a water bath. (A water bath is a baking pan or heat proof container larger than your cake pan with about an inch or two of water above the bottom of the cake pan). This is for even cooking and to preserve moisture).
6. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. WITHOUT opening oven door, reduce temperature to 250°F and continue to bake for an additional two hours or until center of cake registers 150F with a digital thermometer.
7. Remove from oven, water bath, and outer foil. DO NOT unlock the spring form pan! Place on cooling rack for 60 minutes.
8. Loosen cake from sides by going between the cake and the pan with the edge of a knife (if you didn't line the sides with parchment paper). Refrigerate for at MINIMUM of four hours but overnight is best. (NOTE: If you are using a topping, you can place it onto the cake about 2 hours after refrigerating the cake).
9. Unlock and remove the side of pan. For easier slicing, use dental floss. Taut between your hands, press down over cake, then let go of one end, and slide out from side. Rotate and repeat for desired amount of slices, thick or thin is up to you!

Reviews

[ams007]

THANK YOU! I am a New Yorker who knows Cheesecake and this is the recipe I have been looking for. In my opinion, these tweaks make it PERFECT. -Ditch the lemon juice, taste is better without it. -Ditch the Springform Pan - THEY LEAK 99.9% of the time & crust always gets soggy. -More yolks, I use 3 large eggs plus 3 additional yolks -Cooking method: I use an 8 X 4 Fat Daddios round pan (Amazon) because I like tall cheesecakes. Line bottom (I buy 8” round pre-cut parchment paper) and sides with parchment paper after spraying the pan lightly with Pam cooking spray so that the paper sticks. I add my crust and refrigerate the pan. About 30 minutes later, I add filling and bake (in water bath) at 250 degrees for 2 hours 50 minutes. Low and Slow. I let it cool for a few hours on the counter top and then refrigerate. Next day, I put it back in a warm water bath for a minute to loosen the cake from the pan and flip it onto a flat plate - a little tapping on bottom may be necessary for it to slide out. Then I flip it a second time onto a 2nd flat plate or serving tray. The parchment paper on bottom usually stays in the pan and the parchment paper on the sides just peels off. Beautiful looking and spectacular tasting. PERFECT EVERY TIME. If you do it this way one time, you will never do it any other way.

 

[shrimplover]

Absolutely the best? I don't think so. This was rather bland and tasted ok at best. What a looooong list of unnessesary steps! I think this one needs a little more tweaking before it's ready for prime time. Thanks anyway.

 

[SchnauzerMama]

This is the BEST cheesecake recipe! It is so moist and creamy. Not dry or heavy feeling at all. I put a gluten free shortbread cookie crust on the bottom as my family prefers having a crust. I didn't have enough cream cheese so I halved the recipe. I followed the temps for the two different baking times, but changed the baking times. I kept the first at 30 minutes, but halved the second time. We didn't want to wait 4 hours to let it cool in the fridge so we let it cool on a rack for 20 minutes or so then stuck it in the freezer for about an hour before we dove in! Thank you 2Bleu. I can stop looking for a cheesecake recipe! I found my go-to cheesecake dessert!!!

 

[Sugar Fairy]

This cheesecake is absolutely amazing. It is so light and fluffy, and bakes up beautifully. I added a graham cracker crust to mine because my family prefers their cheesecakes that way. I believe this is the first cheesecake I've made that hasn't cracked on top. Perfectly sweet and creamy. Thank you so much 2Bleu, I will be using this recipe over and over!!

 

[AlwaysRosie]

Very good! I only had 2 pkgs of cream cheese, so I made a smaller batch and spooned it into buttered custard cups. Placed custard cups into a baking pan with water and baked them for 20min at first temp and 1hr 15 min at second temp. Cooled the mini cheesecakes and covered them with GANACHE . . . . OH MY GOSH . . . Very good! Thanks for sharing!