New York Style Cheesecake with Philadelphia Cream Cheese
In Turkey, there was no block cream cheese, so I used mild, Labne spreadable cream cheese as in my old New York Style Cheesecake recipe. This cheesecake uses a different recipe than that because now that I'm in Canada there are block kinds of cream cheese to use like Philadelphia's. The photo below is my most recent cheesecake, which I later topped with blueberry compote.
With a new recipe from Epicurious, I made the Philadelphia cheesecake with the same strawberry sauce topping as before. The cheesecake was good with a firmer result than the one with Labne cream cheese. However, it was a little bit sweet and my family preferred a creamier texture, so I modified the recipe by reducing the sugar and adding milk.
Then I topped my newly modified cheesecake with blueberry compote for the first time. My family members agreed that that was the best cheesecake I've ever made so far. I also should have used blueberry compote sooner, because it goes so well with cheesecake.
Note: For the sake of photo-taking I spooned the blueberry compote onto the entire cheesecake. But it is better to spoon the compote onto cheesecake slices right before serving.
New York Style Cheesecake (With Philadelphia Cream Cheese - Makes one 8-Inch Cheesecake)
Ingredients
CRUST
-150g graham cracker crumbs (or digestive biscuit crumbs) -50g butter, melted
CHEESECAKE -two 250g packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, room-temp. (separated)
-one 250g - 75g package of Philadelphia cream cheese (separated again) -1 cup sugar -3 tbsp. corn starch -1 tbsp. vanilla extract -2 large eggs, room-temp. -2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
-3 tbsp. milk
BLUEBERRY COMPOTE
-2 cups blueberries
-2 strips lemon zest
-1 1/2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice -1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
CRUST
1. Slowly add melted butter to graham cracker crumbs and stir with spoon until mixture resembles wet sand. 2. Cover bottom of 8-inch springform pan with three layers of aluminum foil and butter insides. Pour in crust mixture, press down with fingers and spoon firmly.
3. Refrigerate pan while you make the cheesecake batter. CHEESECAKE 1. In a large bowl, make the 250g-75g package of cream cheese workable by stirring it with a wooden spoon. Add 1/3 of the sugar and corn starch and beat with a handmixer on low just until creamy.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Scrape down the bowl. Mix in remaining cream cheese 250g at a time, beating slowly until well-incorporated after each addition. 3. Add remaining sugar and vanilla, and whisk by hand until creamy. 4. Add eggs one by one and whisk thoroughly after each addition. Add milk to heavy cream and whisk it into the batter. Do not overmix. Finished mixture should not be lumpy but silky smooth. 5. Fill electric kettle and boil water. 6. Pour cheesecake batter onto crust. Set springform pan on a baking pan in the oven and fill the baking pan with water. Bake for 1 hour 8 minutes. Rotate the pan around halfway through baking for even browning. Finished cheesecake should have slightly golden brown top and center will jiggle like jello. 7. Cool for 15-20 minutes with oven door ajar. Transfer cheesecake to room temperature and remove aluminum foil.
BLUEBERRY COMPOTE
1. Boil water, sugar, and lemon zest in saucepan on medium high heat for 5 minutes until it boils over to the center.
2. Discard zest. Add blueberries, lower the heat, gently immerse blueberries in the water with a spoon occasionally, and simmer for 3-5 minutes until the blueberries begin to burst.
3. Remove saucepan from heat, stir in lemon juice. Transfer compote to bowl to cool.
4. Refrigerate both compote and cheesecake overnight. 5. The next day, kind of slide the cheesecake around in pan then remove springform ring. Run a large knife gently around the graham cracker crust and transfer cake to plate.
6. Slice cake with the large knife (dipped in hot water and wiped with paper towel), top the slice with a spoonful of blueberry compote, and serve with coffee.
Blueberry Compote Recipe from Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/blueberry-compote-1222195