Rebecca’s New York Style Cherry Cheesecake

We are so happy that you have joined us for our next program for our inaugural exhibit, American Girl: 35 Years of Strong Characters. 

For today’s program, we will be making New York Style Cherry Cheesecake, a recipe inspired by American Girl character, Rebecca, whose story takes place in 1914.

Today’s recipe can be found online at Food.com. The following directions serve 12. We hope you enjoy Rebecca’s New York Style Cherry Cheesecake.

Ingredients

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature

• 3⁄4 cup granulated sugar

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon vanilla or 1 sachet vanilla sugar

• 3⁄4 cup heavy cream

• 4 eggs

• 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling

Equipment

• Large springform pan (10 inches or 26 cm in diameter)

• Large mixing bowl

• Medium mixing bowl

• Mixing spoons

• Electric mixer

Directions for Crust

1. Preheat oven to 400 °F (200 °C).

2. In a large springform pan (10 inches or 26 cm in diameter), mix crumbs, melted butter and sugar well together. Press firmly onto bottom of pan.

3. Bake for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside. NOTE: The crust recipe can be doubled if you also wish to have a crust on the side of the cheesecake.

Directions for Filling

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, flour, sugar, vanilla and heavy cream with an electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition (don’t overmix the batter).

2. Pour batter into prepared springform pan and bake at 400 °F (200 °C) for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 300 °F (150 °C). Continue baking for another 40 minutes.

3. After the baking time is up, gently shake the pan back and forth. The cheesecake should be evenly baked through and uniformly wobbly, but if only the centre is wobbly (about the size of a baseball or roughly 10 cm), it is also fine.

4. Remove cheesecake from oven and carefully run a knife along the edge to loosen the cheesecake from the pan. Place it back in the oven with the heat turned off. Leave the cheesecake over night, with the oven door shut.

5. Put the cheesecake in the fridge the next day for a minimum of 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

6. Top with cherry pie filling or your favourite topping before serving.