Cheesy recipe

While on the phone with my mom tonight, I mentioned that I had made a cheesecake yesterday that I was certain was the best one I'd ever made. Really. And I've eaten nearly half of it, so I am very clear on this point.

Not that anyone needs more recipes, what with all the dot-com resources available, but I will post it anyway for both posterity's sake and mom's. It's an American recipe made by someone who has been in Britain for 12 years. It might help those Americans who are cooking in Britain...might confuse those who are not.

Cheesecake recipe, amended from the Pillsbury Cookbook (c1989!):

Crust:

2 cups biscuit crumbs (I used digestive biscuits, which turned out yummy)

1/2 cup butter, melted

Whizz the biscuits (aka cookies--British lingo, folks) in a food processor until fine. Melt butter and mix together. Press into non-greased 10-inch springform pan. Now, two things: first, I had to use a 9-inch pie plate, which worked fine. Also, I greased it before I read the whole recipe, so I cut a piece of baking parchment (aka wax paper) into a circle and pressed it into the bottom. I think this helped with cutting and serving.

Filling:

3 eggs

2 x 300gram packages cream cheese (again, metric system makes things tricky. And don't use light cream cheese--I did before and that's why this one is better!)

1 cup caster sugar (fine sugar used for certain recipes, dissolves quicker)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 x 300 gram package sour cream (if you are in the US, use slightly more than 1 cup. The original recipe calls for 3 cups, but this is absurd.)

In large bowl, beat the eggs, then add cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt, mixing well. My mixer packed in, so I used a wire whisk. Then add the sour cream and blend well. Pour into pan with crust and put into oven heated to 350 deg F (180 deg C). Important note: put a pan of water under the cheesecake as it's baking to avoid cracks in the top. Bake 60-70 minutes or until set. Mine was closer to 60.

Once baked, set aside to cool completely and store in fridge until ready to serve. I topped mine with store-bought summer fruit filling.

Enjoy!

There, hope that makes someone else as happy as it made us. Too bad hubby's still away! :)