THE One and Only

THE Cheesecake

1/2 C Salted Butter, room temperature

1 Egg Yolk

1/3 C Sugar

1 to 1-1/2 C All Purpose Flour

3 Lbs Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature

1 C Sugar

3 Eggs, room temperature

Equipment needed:

8"x3" round cake pan

Additional pan that is large enough for cake pan to have plenty of room on the sides

Stand mixer or electric hand mixer

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine butter, egg yolk and 1/3 C sugar. (I usually use my hand to do this. I've used a spoon before and it just isn't as efficient.) Add flour starting with 1/2 C until the dough is no longer sticky. It should look and feel like stiff cookie dough but should not be crumbly. Depending on the humidity, you may have to adjust the amount of flour used.

Press half of the dough into the bottom of the cake pan in an even layer. If you want the crust to be a bit thicker, use 3/4 of the dough. The whole recipe is too much and will make it difficult to deal with getting the cheesecake out of the pan once it's baked.

Place the crust in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. I usually check it at 10 minutes and adjust as needed. The crust should be BARELY brown around the edges and have a matte appearance all the way across. If it bubbles up don't panic - just gently press it back down while it's still hot. Set the baked crust aside and let it cool.

While the crust is in the oven, start on the filling. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until well combined and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time and beat the mixture very well, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. The batter should be silky smooth and have zero lumps.

When the crust is cool enough to touch, spoon in half of the batter and spread it evenly across the pan. Tap the bottom of the pan flat on the counter several times to encourage any air bubbles to come to the top. Pop any bubbles and smooth them out. Repeat this process with the remainder of the batter. You want to get the top as smooth as possible and free from as many air bubbles as you can.

Place the cake pan in a larger pan - think something the size of a roasting pan. Carefully pour water into the larger pan until it reaches about 1/2 way up the side of the cake pan. DO NOT get any water on the cheesecake! You can place the pan on the oven rack and pour this way if you are worried about transporting it to the oven if need be. Either way, be mindful of keeping the batter free from water.

Place the pan in the oven on a rack positioned in the center of the oven. Bake for 1 hour.

At the 1 hour mark, check the progress. The cheesecake will have risen above the rim of the pan a bit, and the top will be pretty browned. The cheesecake is done when the brown is even all the way across the top with no pale spots left, and a small knife comes out of the center almost completely clean. You may have to bake it for as long as an hour and a half. The weather seriously influences cooking time, as does your oven. If you have a convection oven, check in at 45 minutes instead of an hour.

When the cheesecake is fully cooked, turn the oven off and do not remove the cheesecake from the oven. Use a large, heat-proof spoon to prop the oven door open just a bit. The goal is to slowly cool the cheesecake. Leave it alone for at least 2 hours.

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and then remove it from its water bath and dry the pan off. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

To turn it out of the pan the next day, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Get set up by putting a sheet of wax paper or foil on a large plate or a thin cutting board that you will easily be able to invert onto a serving plate. Have your serving plate out and ready to go. You will need a table knife with a dull edge that has at least a 3 inch blade on it. When you are set up, put the cheesecake in the oven for 2 minutes - no longer! It should be barely warm on the bottom and you should still be able to touch the pan with your bare hands. Insert the knife into the pan against the edge, making sure to go all the way to the bottom of the pan. Carefully turn the pan until you've gone all the way around the cheesecake, being sure to keep the knife pressed against the side of the pan the entire time.

Once you have loosened the edges, flip the pan over so that the top of the cheesecake is on your wax paper or foil. Do this in one swift move and do not hesitate! You're not going to hurt it, but I swear they smell fear! Once it is safely upside down, gently start lifting the pan a little bit at a time, being sure that the cheesecake is never suspended over your landing spot by more than a inch or so. The weight of the cheesecake will encourage it to slowly slip out of the pan. This process takes a bit of patience - don't rush it. It will come out when it's happy! Once it lands on your paper, carefully and slowly lift the pan all the way off. Check your crust to make sure none stuck to the pan. If there is anything stuck, simply use a spatula to get the bits out of the pan and patch up the bottom. (Nobody will ever know if this happens!)

Place your serving plate gently on the crust side and invert so that the cheesecake is crust side to serving platter, browned side on top. Gently remove the paper/foil and place the cheesecake in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to serve, you will need a sharp knife, very hot water, and plenty of paper towels for wiping the blade. To cut, dip the knife into the hot water for a few seconds. Tap off excess water, then make a clean cut with a swift straight down then straight up motion. This will keep it from sticking to the knife and tearing up the cheesecake. Wipe the knife off and re-dip between each slice. It is imperative that you do not hesitate or move slowly when cutting and removing the knife. I figured this out through a lot of trial and error!

16-20 servings

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First of all, I do not want you to be intimidated by the instructions for this recipe! I do encourage you to read all the way through before starting as I tried to be as detailed as possible. It's wordy because I want you to succeed, not because I want to scare you! This is absolutely a doable recipe, it just takes a patience. If you can muster up some patience, you are about to become a legend with whoever you serve this to! All jokes aside!

This is a hefty venture, weighing in at almost five pounds once it is cooked. It is seriously rich, so definitely be sure to start with smaller servings. If you're feeling fancy, you can set up an array of toppings for your guests to adorn this beauty with! Chocolate ganache, caramel sauce, fresh raspberry or strawberry coulis, lemon curd - they sky is the limit! You have a beautiful canvas to work with, and it isn't overly sweet on purpose. Cheesecake can be elegant or homey, it's completely up to you!

I owned a cake shop once upon a time, and this recipe was a major part of that acquisition, and was literally almost a deal-breaker. It was wildly popular for groom's cakes, birthdays, anniversaries - you name it. The mother of a bride returned my cake stands once stating that "The groomsmen were literally scraping the board the cheesecake had been on with their fingers. You couldn't have sniffed that board and ever known there was cheesecake on it! I wish I had listened to you and gotten extra servings!" That particular cheesecake was 75 servings, and they had no cheesecake left, but a metric ton of wedding cake leftover. Cheesecake has magical powers! I took one to a July 4th gathering once and from initial slice to empty plate was less than 10 minutes. It is seriously that good!

The ingredients are very simple and the technique is simple as well. If you are more comfortable with using a Springform pan, you can certainly use one. I'm not a fan, but we all have tools that we like and dislike in the kitchen. You do what works best for you! You're using a ton of cream cheese here. I highly recommend Philadelphia brand for this. I've tried generic brands and it's just not quite the same. I'm not sure what the Philadelphia folks are doing different, but it makes a difference! Cream cheese is already delicious, so you don't need much to make it over the top amazing! I honestly feel like a lot of cheesecake recipes do too much. I don't like the addition of flour, corn starch, or even vanilla extract for that matter. Sour cream toppings, strange additions, and flavored crusts just aren't for me. I'm a purist, and have never received a single complaint from anyone that I've served or sold this to. And I have never, until today, shared this recipe with a soul. With everything going on in our crazy world right now, I think that you deserve to enjoy a little slice of heaven! I sincerely hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as I have over the years. And please, share with someone who could use a smile!