Due to a series of events, my family found itself in possession of 4 pounds of cream cheese (we measured). With no space to store it and not enough time to consume dozens of bagels, we decided to make a New-York Style Cheesecake from all-recipes  that called for 32 ounces of cream cheese.

This was the first time I had made cheesecake and I’m not the best baker.  Luckily for me, it was pretty easy to make and turned out great.  We chose to pile on some strawberries, blackberries and blueberries which were a nice addition.

The recipe said it should only take 15 minutes to prep, but it took me a little longer.  We only had a 10-inch springform pan (the recipe called for 9-inch), but the difference didn’t impact the final product.  Just watch out not to pack the lemon and orange zest when measuring, because our cake had a little too much of an orange flavor. The recipe calls for an hour cook time and it needed the exact hour to bake.  But definitely watch out because after it cooks, the recipe calls for it to cool in the oven for three to four hours, so due to a lack of planning, we removed the cake from the oven at 2:30 AM.  Letting it cool is supposed to prevent cracking, but ours did crack a little.  We didn’t really mind the cracking, and it didn’t affect the taste.

The ingredients 

• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 18 graham crackers (crushed)
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 packages of cream cheese (8 ounces each)
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• ⅔ cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan.
3. Mix crushed graham crackers and the butter in a bowl until evenly combined.  Then press the crumbs along the bottom of the pan and ½ inch up the sides of the pan.
4. Whisk together the flour, sour cream and vanilla extract in a bowl.
5. In a separate bowl stir the cream cheese and sugar together for three to five minutes.  The consistency of the mixture should change.
6. Pour milk into the cream cheese and sugar mixture and mix until combined.
7. Mix in the 4 eggs one a a time, and stir after each egg is added.
8. Mix in lemon zest, orange zest, and sour cream mixture.
9. Pour the mixture into the springform pan.
10. Bake in oven for an hour (it took me exactly an hour).
11. The cheesecake should have puffed edges, and the surface should be firm except for a small spot in the middle.
12. When the cheesecake is down turn the oven off and let it cool in the oven for 3-4 hours. Hopefully this will prevent cracking.