Cheesecake

Ah, cheesecake.  Other than Oreo truffles, this is probably the recipe I get asked to make the most often.  It's also another recipe that's easier to make than you might think.  What you'll need are: 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter (melted), 2 8-oz. packages of cream cheese, 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk, 3 eggs, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 8-oz. container sour cream.

 

I recommend leaving your cream cheese on the counter for at least a couple of hours to soften it up; it makes it easier to work with.  Now, before you do anything else, put a sheet or two of aluminum foil in the bottom of your oven.  Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and grease the bejeebus out of a 9-inch springform pan (unless you like having the cheesecake stick horribly to the pan).  In a medium bowl, combine your crumbs, sugar, and butter.  Press this mixture into the bottom of the nicely greased pan and set it aside.

Having a giant dent in your pan is entirely optional

In a large mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese until it's rather fluffy, then beat in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth.  Now beat in the eggs and lemon juice and pour it all into your prepared pan.

There may be a few lumps--that's ok!

Now bake it for 50 minutes, or until the center is set (it's not all goopy).  I'd recommend getting your sour cream out of the fridge about now too, since at the end of 50 minutes, top your cheesecake with the sour cream and bake it for another 5 minutes.  This is why I had you put that foil down way back at the beginning.  As the sour cream cooks, some of it will evaporate, and when your oven cools, it'll all fall right back down to the bottom of your oven.  Then the next time you turn on the oven, guess what fills your kitchen with an incredibly stinky smoke?  Just remember to remove the foil once your oven has cooled off again.

Anyway, now just cool your cheesecake and you're all done!  Now that wasn't so bad, was it?

So delicious.