This is Vito’s Mom’s recipe for New York Style Cheesecake. She was the “Cheesecake Queen” and was asked many times by family and friends to bake one for their special occasions, to which she never refused nor would she accept any payment for her efforts. We make it often, substituting stevia for the sugar in the recipe to cut down on carbohydrates; the resulting cheesecake is identical in looks and taste to the traditional recipe using sugar. There are two “must-do” items in this recipe: 1) use a 9” or 10” spring-form pan, preferably with a non-stick coating, and 2) after baking, leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door propped open and the heat turned off for 1 hour to rest.
While many recipes call for using a bain marie or water bath when baking a cheesecake, we find it cumbersome. For most home bakers, it is difficult to execute properly and if you get a leak between the spring-form pan and the bain marie, you have a soggy disaster on your hands. While the water bath method is supposed to result in less cracking of the top crust, that has not been our experience. That said, we actually like some light cracking in the cheesecake’s top crust; it adds character and the small crevices serve as wonderful reservoirs for any fruit sauce topping you may choose to use or not.
Mom would often provide a fruit topping at the table when serving her cheesecake. To our taste, this New York Style Cheesecake is just perfect without any additions, but if you prefer one, prepare a topping using seasonal fruit, either fresh or cooked down and cooled prior to serving. For a tropical twist, try our Grilled Pineapple NY Cheesecake recipe.
Prep Time: 1 hour, Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes Yields One 9 or 10-inch cheesecake of 8 servings
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