Cheesecake Recipe from Williams-Sonoma catalog

5 bricks cream cheese (don’t skimp.  Buy the real stuff, fat and all)

2 cups sugar

5 eggs (at room temperature)

Lorna Doone shortbread cookies

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line the outside of your cheesecake pan with aluminum foil, shiny side toward the pan.

 

Crush the cookies (about 1 ½ of the two sleeves of cookies) and press them into the bottom of your pan.  Stick pan in fridge while you mix the rest.

 

Mix each package of cream cheese, then add the next until all 5 are in the bowl.  Add the 2 cups of sugar slowly, and continue mixing.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl often.  Next, add the eggs (room temperature), one at a time.  Do that side scraping thing.  Once all the eggs have been added, dump the contents into your cheesecake pan.

 

Bake for at least 1 hour & 20 minutes.  I usually end up around 1 ½ hours total until the center of the pan doesn’t jiggle when I slide the oven rack out.

 

I have added 1 tsp. of vanilla (good) or almond flavoring.  If you want pumpkin cheesecake, substitute one can of pumpkin for one 8 ounce cream cheese.  Then you might want to use ginger snaps for the bottom crust.  If you do, use about 4 tablespoons of butter to keep the snaps together for the crust.

 

I have made this recipe a bunch of times, and have always had compliments for it.

 

Website for the store: one of my favorites:

 

http://www.williams-sonoma.com