Cherry Topped Cheesecake

I would like to tell you an interesting story that involves a cheesecake...I worked as a waitress the previous summer. It was an international cafe where the majority of our clients were english, french and german. However, as the cafe had a large number of breakfast choices which you could pick from, a Swedish guy ordered a slice of cheesecake. We normally served cheesecake plain, without sauce or other things on the side (which I find now to be absolutely ridiculous...a cheesecake is at its best with something to go with it, right? Yeah!). Because it was morning and he was the first client, I decided to "work" on that dessert (or breakfast, for him). So, I drizzled some berry sauce and topped it with whipped cream, then I spooned some more sauce. Am I crazy? Probably. I think so, as I had just turned a simple slice of cheesecake into the BEST BREAKFAST EVER! And when I brought the guy`s order...his face was truly priceless. I`ve never seen anyone to be so happy in front of a cheesecake. He said nothing, just made a sound that resembled "Nom,nom,nom". Of course he tipped generously.

I`m so sorry the pictures aren`t that great but, you know, natural light just didn`t want to cooperate that day.

Whatever, I must tell you that this was my first time making a cheesecake! Sound crazy, right? And no, I did not top it with a cherry jelly to cover the cracks because it had none! I`m sorry again for not having taken a picture of that. You get the idea.

Believe it or not, it was my mom who suggested I make this dessert. The truth is that we went to a party and guests had to bring their own sweets. I started looking up for a crowd-pleasing recipe, but then my dear mother said she felt like eating cheesecake, altough she had only one slice in her whole life. 

You just can`t say "No" to your parent when they request a certain dessert.

Don`t ask! I put a little kitten on my slice of cheesecake. Yes, I`m  crazy.

So normally, I was supposed to go shopping in order to get my hands on cream cheese...good quality cream cheese. Full fat cream cheese and full fat ingredients. A good cheesecake is high in calories, but who cares? If I were to die at one point, I don`t want to regret any dessert I`ve eaten. 

For those of you who are obsessed with calorie counting and fat in food or dietary stuff like that : I`m sorry to tell you that you have come to the wrong place. I will post a recipe on how to make a low calorie cheesecake in the near future, but until then...indulge.

I also have to apologize for the thin crust. My cheesecake looks almost crust-less. I hate that! If you want a thicker crust, I suggest doubling the amount of the ingredients. I used only 150 gr. of pretzels and I shall regret that all of my life. The crust was amazingly delicious and I would have liked more of it. *Sigh*

As you already guessed, this cheesecake is just like it should be : creamy, decadent, rich and slightly tangy, thanks to the sour cream and lemon zest.

I also suggest not skipping the "Baking on a water bath" step because this way you avoid cracks and dry cheesecake.

Ingredients:

For the crust (use a 8 inch/20 cm round springform pan for best results)

150 gr. pretzels

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

65 gr melted butter

1 Tablespoon of milk

a generous pinch of cinnamon

Crush the pretzels until finely ground. A food processor does the job perfectly. Add the sugar, cinnamon, melted butter and milk. Blend everything thoroughly. The mixture should resemble wet sand :when you pinch it between your fingers, it should stay firm.

Grease a springform pan and put the pretzel mixture on the bottom of it. With the back of a spoon or your hand, press it all over the bottom of the pan and working your way up to the sides. 

Bake at 375 degrees F/180 C for 10-15 minutes. Let cool while your prepare the filling.

For the cream cheese filling:

500 gr. cream cheese-room temperature-

120 gr. white granulated sugar

3 eggs

30 gr. sifted flour

160 gr. sour cream or Greek yogurt

grated peel/zest of 1/2 (half) a lemon

7 Tablespoons milk or heavy cream

1.Lower the temperature of the oven to 350 degreed F/160 C.

2. Beat the cream cheese until smooth, for 2 minutes or so. Add the sugar and beat until very well incorporated, about 3-4 minutes. Crack one egg at a time in, mixing after each addition. 

Add the milk/heavy cream and sour cream/yogurt, blending everything together. Now that you have done that, finish with the lemon zest/grated peel and flour.

3. Pour this mixture into the prepared pretzel crust, tapping the pan lightly just to remove air bubbles (to prevent cracks). Bake on a water bath* for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes. You know the cheesecake is done when the sides of it look set and the middle is still slightly jiggly (or wobbly, whatever you want to call it). Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven, with the opened door, for about 1 hour. After such time, remove it from the oven and put it in the refrigerator for 4 hours to overnight. Letting the cheesecake rest for so much time will allow it to set, so that it won`t fall apart when you try to cut a slice. After it rested enough in the fridge, remove it from the springform pan. If you don`t have a springform pan, well, you are going to have a difficult time to get it out. 

water bath* = put the unbaked cheesecake in a rectangle pan and fill it with boiling water until it reaches half of the sides of the pan that had the cheese filling in it. Something like the picture below:

I don`t own any copyrights of this image!