Cheesecake!

This is going to be a continuation of my Mother's Day post from last Sunday. My mom loves cheesecake. I knew I needed to bake one for her for Mother's Day. But, you know...cheesecake is kind of intimidating. I made one a couple of years ago, in the terrible oven that was in our house. Really, I smoked a cheesecake in that oven. It wasn't a pretty picture. But now I have a beautiful, non-smoking oven, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

This is what we'll need to make Dorie's Tall and Creamy Cheesecake:

It's pretty simple, really...eggs, cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. After we get it all mixed up, it looks like this:
velvety deliciousness! There was lots of mixing involved, but Dorie said we wanted a very aerated batter...we got it! I couldn't believe how smooth and creamy it was! (And it was delicious, straight off of the spatula. You know I couldn't resist.) It was absolutely killing me to not put something in the batter (like chocolate chips, or brownie pieces, or Snickers pieces, or something...anything!), but Mom is a cheesecake purist. And it's her day. So we're having basic cheesecake. But wait! What are we going to bake it in?!
A graham cracker crust! I did cheat a little and used store-bought graham cracker crumbs that I had on hand. See the aluminum foil? There are about 4 layers of aluminum foil wrapped around that spring-form pan. At this point in the process, I was apprehensive about sticking it in the water bath. The last thing I wanted was a soggy Mother's Day cheesecake! But I went for it, and after what seemed like an eternity...
I had a beautiful tall and creamy cheesecake! It got a little more brown on the top than I would have liked. I had the pan in the middle of the oven, like the recipe said, but it just got a little too brown. Next time, I'll lower the rack a notch or two.
I also make some homemade dulce de leche to put on the cheesecake (since I didn't put anything in it):

And then I drizzled the homemade dulce de leche on top of a HUGE slice of cheesecake...
And then I ate the whole thing! It was very good, but I still need some practice. You see, the master cheesecake baker, Paul C., lives next door to Mom and Chet. He makes awesome, beautiful, unbrowned, crack-free cheesecakes. I mean, they are divine. Mine isn't quite up there with Paul's cheesecake, but it was pretty darn good!

I can't wait to make it again, but with something delicious mixed in. I've seen a few people make beautiful layered cheesecakes, and I'm feeling inspired. I have plans to make a three-layer cheesecake. A chocolate crust, followed by a chocolate layer, a peanut butter layer, and a layer of plain cheesecake with Reese Cups. That will be great...once I figure out in my head exactly how I want to approach it. I need an occasion to make it though, because I can't have a three-layer chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake hanging around my house. That would be BAD NEWS.

I used Dorie Greenspan's Tall and Creamy Cheesecake recipe. You can find the recipe here, on Anne Strawberry's blog. She got a little wild and crazy with hers...peppermint bark-flavored cheesecake. Yum!