Cheesecake Update

Cheesecake recipes are simple.  They become complex only because people struggle to equate simplicity with greatness.  Belladonna deviated from the recipe by adding a bit more vanilla than the recipe called for.

The recipe is simple but that makes the use of quality ingredients doubly important.  Our graham crackers smelled a little bit "off" after we crushed them.  So we tossed those crackers and restarted with a fresher box.  Using high quality toppings is also called for.

Our oven wanted a bit longer and a bit warmer to get the cheese cakes to "set"

We did not follow the recipe exactly.  We did not have enough cream cheese so we substituted a bit of sour cream.  Bella added a bit more vanilla than called for.  The recipe called for one, deep dish pan.  We used two, shallow 9" pie pans because that is what we had.

A final note of caution:  Don't cut the cheesecake until after it is chilled.  The cream cheese and sour cream have a very high fat content.  Cutting while warm will cause the slices to collapse in a heap of crumbs and the knife will drag when cutting.