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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Sour Cream Cheesecake

My mom and aunt have had a bet on the University of Texas vs. Texas A&M football game for as long as I can remember. Most likely longer than I could remember since I am pretty sure the bet is older than I am. Well my cousin and I picked up that bet when we both ended up attending these two fine institutions of higher learning. Okay one fine institution and tamu, but that isn't why I'm here today. Today I'm here to talk about the practice cheesecake I made before I see my cousin over Christmas and have to make her one for real.

This year the Aggies ended a losing streak and won, so I have to produce a cheesecake for my cousin. Now, I have very little baking experience so I decided to go with what seemed to be a pretty straight forward Alton Brown recipe. And while it is pretty easy to follow, some of the hardware needed proved difficult to get my hands on.

The biggest difference in this recipe than what I'm used to is that it called for using a solid 9 by 3 inch cake pan rather than a springform pan. We don't have this size pan, and several stores I checked did not either. So I just followed the recipe but baked it in a springform pan and cut out the water bath.

I do want to try using the water bath cooking method. While the final flavor of the cheesecake was excellent, the texture was a bit soft for my taste. It didn't run all over the plates or anything, but it could have been firmer, and I think cooking it to the recipe should achieve that.

But enough words, have some pictures.

butter for the crust
the crust is ridiculously easy and I will never do store bought again
why yes, that is 2.5 bricks of cream cheese. mmmmm fat
nobody tell Laura I used her mixer
pre-bake
no crack! #happydance
the left over crust bits really add a lot to the final product