Say Cheesecake!

 We had a late birthday celebration for Roger last weekend, and although he's not much of a sweets person, Chels did say that he's a cheesecake fan. I set out to bake him a birthday cheesecake, but was much dismayed by the difficulty of some of the recipes. I stumbled across Emeril Lagasse's New York Style Cheesecake, tried it, and loved it! Seriously, it was a hit! The best part was that it was one of the easier recipes I found. This will definitely be my go-to recipe, as there are quite a few of us in my circle who can hardly pass up a piece of cheesecake covered with fresh strawberries or caramel.

If you love cheesecake, you must try this.

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1 orange, zested
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. In a mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar and mix well. Press onto bottom of springform pan and bake until golden, about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool. When completely cooled, butter the sides of the pan.

Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar, zests and vanilla and beat until light and creamy. Add the flour, then the eggs and yolks 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the sour cream and mix until smooth. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees F and bake for 1 hour more. Transfer cake to acooling rack and let cool completely. Refrigerate cake overnight before serving.

To serve, top with sauce of choice. Slice with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped with a clean cloth, and serve.

Note: The only changes I will make in the future are the following: cut back just a tad on the zest, add a dash of salt to the batter, bake the crust a bit longer so it's really firm, and bake the whole cake another hour. If you like a creamy cake, leave bake time as is, but if you like it a bit firmer, add time.