Do you see the mark of a slice cut in the cheesecake?

Here’s the reason …. my family was sitting in the living room waiting, with bated breath, while I set the table for them to come and have dessert. I left the room to get my camera for a quick photo snap of the finished cheesecake when someone – no one will fess up to the crime – started to cut the cake. Obviously, they didn’t want to wait any longer.

You won’t either once you bake one of these delicious cheesecakes and have a slice. It is extremely rich and thick. A small slice will be very satisfying. But, you’ll still want to have a 2nd helping. Enjoy … !!!!

if you’re gluten intolerant this is the recipe for you. There’s no flour in the recipe. The graham crackers crumb at the bottom of the pan can be eliminated. 😍

Nanny’s Italian Cheesecake

Ingredients:

4 – 8 oz. pkgs. of cream cheese
1/1/2 cups sugar
1 stick of butter
1 – 16 oz. container of sour cream
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla
5 eggs
Spring baking pan

Preheat oven to 375 F ****** 190.6 C

Keep cheese, sour cream and butter at room temperature for 1 hour.

Mix all ingredients together – except eggs – beat well.

Add eggs in one at a time. Do not add the next egg into the mix until it’s throughly mixed. To avoid egg shells in your mix break the egg in a small bowl then add to the mix.

Pour into a well greased spring pan (melted butter or spray butter).

Place spring pan into a roaster pan and place on your oven rack. Now, your roaster pan to 1/2 the level so that the spring pan is sitting in the water.

Bake for 1 hour.

Rremove from oven … let cool thoroughly … refrigerate overnight before serving.

Enjoy … !!!!

Options:
You can add fresh vanilla beans instead of bottled vanilla.
You can add lime juice or vanilla instead of lemon juice.
You can add stevia instead of sugar.
You can add melted chocolate or swirl the chocolate in the mix.

Decorate your cheesecake with fresh strawberries, blueberries, sprinkle confectioners sugar or leave it plain.

Graham Cracker Mix:
1 1/2 cups of graham crackers
5 teaspoons butter
2 tablespoons of sugar

Melt butter, add pre-mixed graham cracker / sugar that you’ve mixed together. (The graham crackers can be place in a small lunch bag and hammered into crumbs or use a small electric chopper)

Blend well … spread on the bottom of the spring pan. To create an even level use your close fist to tap down mixture down.

Refrigerate 1 hour – now, add the cream cheesecake mixture.

Option:
To have a truly gluten free cheesecake do not add graham crackers to your pan.

Option 2:
You can use ginger snap cookies instead of graham crackers if you want to change a different taste.

*****A friend gifted me this recipe in a lovely card, 20 years ago, along with the cheesecake when she came to a over dinner party I was having. I have been baking it for years and have never had a disappointed comment upon tasting. It’s a family recipe from her aunt. With her permission, I have posted it here. Enjoy !!!

Every Tuesday, Frizz, offers the ‘A to Z challenge’. He’s walking us step by step through the alphabet. This week is the Letter C – to join in