Kee Kee's Original Cheesecake
I've been making this cheesecake for over 30 years. It began as my grandmother's cheese pie. I just expanded the recipe to serve more people and added my own crust. It has won praise from everyone who has tasted it... Try it warm!
I've been making this cheesecake for over 30 years. It began as my grandmother's cheese pie. I just expanded the recipe to serve more people and added my own crust. It has won praise from everyone who has tasted it... Try it warm!
- Carbohydrate 9.4361171875 g
- Cholesterol 582.953125 mg
- Fat 31.205393125 g
- Fiber 0.0236250004172325 g
- Protein 19.407236875 g
- Saturated Fat 15.0634853125 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (193g)
- Sodium 331.73490625 mg
- Sugar 9.41249218708277 g
- Trans Fat 4.01103775000001 g
- Calories 395 calories
Step-by-step
- Fill a large metal casserole dish full of water. Carefully place the dish on the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350.
- Place the ENTIRE PACKAGE of Keeblerâ„¢ Simply Shortbread Cookies into a gallon Ziplockâ„¢ bag. Crush the cookies in the bag. Scoop the cookie crumbs into a stainless steel bowl. Melt the stick of butter and pour it over the cookies. Blend well with a fork. Spray an 11 inch spring-form pan with Canola spray. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with the cookie mixture.
- Cut the cream cheese into eights as each package is opened. Add 1st package of eights and blend for 30 seconds. I use a food processor to accomplish this, but a mixer should do. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl after each blend. Blend in the four remaining cream cheese packages. Add the sugar and blend for 1 minute. Add eggs and mix 30 seconds more. After the cream cheese, sugar, and eggs are thoroughly mixed together, add the flour and extracts then blend for a final 30 seconds.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared spring-form pan and bake for 45 minutes at 350 with the spring-form pan sitting on the middle oven rack above the "water bath". Check to see if outer rim of cake is burning and cover with a "donut" of aluminum foil if necessary. Bake for 15 minutes more. While baking, mix the topping ingredients together. At 1 hour total baking time, remove cake from oven and spread the topping evenly across including the edges of the crust. Bake for 5 minutes more .
- Let cake cool for 1 hour before slicing or placing in the refrigerator, covering with aluminum. {This cheesecake, like many other cakes, tastes best when it is warm - fresh from the oven.}
- Try slicing this cheesecake, like ALL cheesecakes, with unwaxed dental floss. Pushing it down through the crust is slow, but every slice will come out perfect.
Operating inside a standard home kitchen requires managing the precise humidity needed to prevent delicate custard surfaces from splitting during dry heat baking. Placing a large metal casserole dish filled with water on the bottom rack creates ambient steam that buffers the sudden temperature spikes of a conventional 350 degree environment. When building the foundation, store-bought shortbread cookies provide a reliable butter-absorption ratio that eliminates the guessing game of traditional flour-and-fat doughs.
Dairy products respond dramatically to processing temperatures, meaning cold cream cheese will trap air pockets and yield a lumpy batter instead of the silky density required for a proper slice. Cutting each of the five packages into eighths before introducing mechanical blending ensures the blades incorporate the fat evenly without overworking the proteins. Once the sugar and four large eggs join the bowl, timing the incorporation prevents excess volume from forming undesirable air bubbles that compromise structural integrity.
Cheesecake history traces back to ancient Greece where athletes consumed high-energy cheese cakes during early Olympic games, evolving over centuries into the chilled refrigerator desserts common today. This particular formulation relies on a sour cream topping applied during the final baking window, sealing the interior moisture beneath a tart, glossy finish. Monitoring the outer rim at the forty-five-minute mark protects the delicate shortbread edges from scorching before the center fully sets.
Allowing the finished dessert to rest for one full hour stabilizes the internal starches before any slicing occurs, while serving it slightly warm highlights the almond and vanilla extracts far more intensely than a chilled wedge can manage. Traditional steel knives often drag through dense dairy fats and crumble the crust, whereas a clean length of unwaxed dental floss glides downward in a single motion to produce pristine portions.
