Best German Cheesecake I Ever Made

Kasekuchen, I love you.  You are everything I never knew I was missing in American Cheesecake.

Seriously, this cheesecake will rock an American's WORLD!  It's everything we love about a good apple pie, it's pie crust + everything creamy dreamy we love in a good cheesecake. I have to make the distinction between American and German now because, folks, who knew? But there is a difference...

I hate the idea of making pie crust, don't know why, won't analyze it here. My first thought, when I first saw this made, was, "Whatever. Germans. SO perfect." LOL! Just kidding, but the whole pie crust sorta put me off to it. At first.

I got brave. I asked my mother in law for the recipe. Clever lady that she is, she took her iPad to her cookbook and sent me a jpg of the recipe, carefully translating and marking the ingredients in English for my benefit.  I was smitten. She wanted me to try.

The pie crust was the easiest thing I have ever made to date, except perhaps for the filling of this cheesecake, which also makes German cheesecakes quite distinct. At first, I just thought they were being fancy and calling cream cheese by another name, but it is in fact, a distinct and separate cheese culture (flavor) from American cream cheese.

Europeans are as passionate about quark (yep quark) as Americans are about cream cheese. I can absolutely understand why and I'm a total fan now... But the one thing that quark has over cream cheese is it's ridiculously easy to make at home. Cream cheese is also fairly easy, but quark is by far the easiest soft cheese to make in your home kitchen, even easier than yogurt.  Like a brat, I almost don't want to share my cool little secret, but something compels me to do it, you lucky dogs! I will share it in another post. :)

Crust:
Quickest homemade shortcrust on the planet. If using a 9" spring form pan, you will want to double the filling recipe which follows but the crust proportions below work perfectly in a 9" x 3" round pan.

• 50 g sugar
• 100 g cold butter
• 150 g flour
• A pinch of salt

Pulse in food processor until it just forms a ball. Dump dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and using the wrap form the dough into a ball. Seal the dough well in the plastic wrap and refrigerated at least 30 minutes or until ready to roll out.

Butter and dust your spring form pan with flour. You could also use parchment to line the bottom and sides of your pan, but I followed the recipe instructions to grease and flour.

Roll out dough into a large square working fast and loosening dough as you roll with flour so it wont stick.

Use the springform pan as a template to cut a circle from the dough and this is the bottom crust so lay it inside the bottom of the pan. Use the remaining strips of dough to press into the sides. Doesn't have to be perfect nor is it necessary to go all the way up the sides. Germans tend to do a half-side thing, which actually looks quite pretty. If you have holes or tears, just gently press in little bits of dough to form a crust for the sides. In fact, you can really just patch the sides and seal it all together to make it super quick. I've seen it done all kinds of ways and asl long as you've got sides, you have done well.

Filling:

• 500 g quark (cream cheese if you can't make your own quark; not the same but close...)
• 100 g sugar
• 100 g sour cream
• 2 eggs separated/ eggwhites beaten with dash of salt to form stiff peaks tolls added to cheese mixture
• Vanilla
• 1 tbsp corn starch

In a bowl, cream together the quark, sour cream, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and corn starch.  

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. You can whip the tar out of it, don't worry, the stiffer the egg whites, the better they will hold up this cheesecake.  Fold in the stiff egg whites to the cheese mixture.

Add this batter to your spring form pan with the crust. 

Bake at 340 degrees F for 1 hr. 

**Note:  Do not use a baking stone or any other pan on your rack or it will affect the rise. If it cracks, who cares? My first one did because I used a baking stone and tried to let it cool down in the oven. Bad idea... It caused a large crack but I didn't let it get me down. It was one of the best cheesecakes I have ever personally made and let's say, I have made a few.

** Another Note: for my 9 inch springform I doubled the filling above and that was perfect.  Otherwise, that might nicely fit into a 6" mini spring form and still give the same tall cheesecake effect Americans (myself included) love.

A word about European measurements:
When you see the measurements above, don't freak out. I was annoyed by it at first but when I actually did it, I thought, Americans are different just to be different but that doesn't mean we always have to do it the hard way... Try it once and you may like using this method even more than measuring cups. All you need is a kitchen scale and if you've ever tried to watch your weight, chances are you already have one. If not, get one. It does make recipes so much more precise and that means, your dishes will come out much better for you too.

Best American Cheesecake I have EVER Made

Ok, so if one has to be on a quest, might as well be something truly earth shaking like how to make the perfect cheesecake, right? I mean, the world won't stop just because you make cheesecake, but if you make the PERFECT cheesecake, trust me, worlds stop. At least mine. For a few minutes... which is sometimes saying an awful lot if you have busy lives like I'm sure you must have...

It's these little indulgences that make life sweet.  I'm the ultimate student in the kitchen and while not exactly methodical, to some people, there is a method to my madness and it centers around education. I want to know... I HAVE TO UNDERSTAND.  I don't burden others with my quests other than to ask their indulgence of me when I have an abundance in the kitchen and gardens. I grow what I like to eat and I cook what I like to grow. If it's possible for me to make it or grow it myself, I will inevitably try to do just that. Pretty simple. And I'm not afraid to try and try and try and try and well, you get it. I'm not afraid to fail, I suppose.  Which makes me a pretty darn good cook once I get the hang of what I'm pursuing. And, it's always a pursuit. Full of love and passion for the ingredients and more importantly, what it takes to create and grow the finest ingredients. I'm an ingredient snob and proud of it.

So, in the pursuit of the perfect cheesecake, I started out to perfect the recipe but that is harder for me than most because this is where my "creative license" usually gets me off track. If I were more scientific, it would probably go quicker and I'd be a little skinnier, but the understanding would be elusive, I suspect.  

So this recipe was a good one to begin with, but it wasn't perfect. There is a technique to baking a cheesecake and it isn't no willy nilly affair; it's precise if what you are after is perfection.  The big secret, which I have resisted for years after one miserable failed attempt, is the water bath, friends.  I'm no scientist but my palate is pretty particular. The water bath ensures even, s-l-l-l-low and even baking.  It affects the rise of the batter, the evenness of the baking, the TEXTURE.  I do not lie when I say it makes or breaks the perfection of your recipe. But how does one do this?

Well, Alton Browne knows.  I DVR'd his show about cheesecakes and he had the solution, as he almost always does, to a clever technique that any cook at home can use to produce this textural magic.  Alton's secret was in how to do a water bath without a springform, WITHOUT getting water into your cheesecake and turning it into cheesecake pudding.  It's pretty simple, takes a little patience and time, but well worth the effort, you'll see.

My Cheesecake Recipe:

• 20 oz cream cheese (homemade if you are curious! you can do it, too!)
• 1 c sugar
• 1 1/4 c sour cream (homemade, too, but store bought is just fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/3 c heavy cream

Crust:

• 2 packages of Graham crackers, crushed into crumbs
• 1 tbsp sugar, melted or soft
• 1 stick butter

Make your crust in a food processor or smash it real well in a sealed plastic baggie. 

Add about half of the crust mix on bottom only of your 9", parchment lined round pan, gently pressing into place. Save the rest of the crust as we will use that for the sides once we take it out of the pan.  Isn't that sly? :)

Blind bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes to set the crust so it doesn't get too soggy.

Tricky Equipment Needed:
(1) 9" x 3" round cake pan fitted with parchment on the bottom and sides (go ahead, cut parchment? Kids do it, its easy)
10" x 3" round cake pan or larger for the water bath
Technique:
All you really do is grease your 9" pan. BUT! Don't flour it. That isn't the purpose of the grease here. Instead, the grease acts as an adhesive that will help you keep your parchment lining in place. Cut a circle for the bottom of the pan using your actua 9" pan as a template to draw a circle on a square of parchment larger than the cake pan. Cut out the circle and lay it on the bottom of your greased pan. There. The bottom is done.

Do the same thing with parchment strips cut wider than the sides of your cake pan. Adhere the strips to the greased sides of the pan. It doesn't have to look like Martha Stewart, just stick them on as best as you can, keeping it wrinkle free if you can. I use two smaller strips to line the sides so it's easier to get them in place, but do what you need to do so that the bottom and sides are lined.

After you put the batter into the 9", set it gently inside the larger cake pan and put the whole "nest" into a cold oven. With a measuring cup or something with control, add very hot tap water to the larger cake pan being careful not to drip into your cake batter pan. You only need the water to go halfway up the sides (1 1/2" if using a 9x3 round pan).

Baking:
Bake at 250 degrees for an hour. Turn off oven open oven door for a full minute and leave to cool in oven for one more hour. 

Cooling:
Refrigerate until cold. This will help us get the cheesecake out of the pan with minimal damage. Trust me, I was leery, but the cake will literally come out easily if you are gentle by flipping it out onto a large plate or platter and then flipping it back out onto the serving dish or plate. It will not harm the top, much to my total surprise. Just make sure the cake is thoroughly chilled. I let it rest in the fridge overnight before trying this part.

Final Touches:
Once you have gotten the cake out, gently peel off the strips of parchment. Don't worry about the one on the bottom. That will actually help the pieces come out nicely once you cut it and it will help protect your serving tray or platter.

Using the rest of the crust crumbs, just pat it all around the sides, pressing gently to adhere it to the "naked" sides of the cheesecake.  This gives a crust that is tender, easy to cut and looks quite beautiful. It also helps cover up any blemishes that may have happened during the "un-panning" process.It sounds like a lot of work, but really it was quite easy as long as you just go slow and don't freak out because there are seemingly, a lot of steps to this. Perfection, after all, is and should be a slow and steady pursuit. Happy Baking!

Fa-la-la-la-la Pumpkin Cheesecake

The Filling:
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ginger
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
Juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon
Zest of one orange
3 eggs
1 can (15 oz) of pumpkin purée
36 oz of cream cheese (4 1/2, 8 oz packages)

The Crust:
2 packages cinnamon Graham crackers, pulsed to crumbs in a blender or food processor
1/4 c sugar
1 stick of melted butter

Oven temp:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the crust:
Make the crust by combining all ingredients of for the crust into a food processor and pulse just to combine. You can crush the crackers by putting them into a ziplock bag and beating the crap out of it or just roll a rolling pin over the top in a civilized manner, depending on your mood. Once the butter and sugar are incorporated, dump it all into a large 10" spring form pan or use whatever you have handy. You will want to form the crust so that it is even in thickness, starting from the bottom of your pan and slowly working all the way up the sides. Once it's formed, set it aside. We will par bake this crust for 5-10 minutes before we add the filling.

For the filling:
Everyone in the pool! Yes, just put all ingredients into a large bowl and whip it until your satisfied or at least until the lumps are gone. If you let your cream cheese soften at room temperature this will be a breeze even if you have to do this part by hand. A handheld emersion blender works well, a blender, stand or handheld mixer.

Bake:
1st, par bake the crust at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-10 minutes. This is the temp we will later use for baking the cheesecake. We aren't trying to brown it, but rather firm it up before we put the wet ingredients in so it isn't some soggy, sorry mess. :)

2nd, once the crust has cooled from this quick bake exercise, add your filling and smooth it out, tapping it gently to remove any bubbles from the batter. Go easy, you don't want to dislodge your crust!

Now, bake this big beast for about an hour at 375 degrees Fahrenheit if you are using a deep spring form. The deeper your pan, the longer it will take. If you are using a regular pie pan and splitting your batter into two smaller cheese-pies, bake at the same temperature and start checking on them after 25 -30 minutes. When done, the center should be set and the whole "cake" will start to shrink away from the sides, but the cake should not wobble in the center at all or you will have pumpkin cheesecake mudslide... :) no one wants this, speaking from experience.

This recipe is for my family! My sister resorted to threats and said this was the third and final request before phone stalking begins in earnest. I hear ya loud and clear, sis. Hope it turns out awesome for you. Take pics and we will use the for this blog. Big hugs! Happy Thanksgiving from Minnesota!

*** Update: to keep it from cracking like the one in this picture, use the water bath technique I talk about in my American Cheesecake post. :)