Classic Cheesecake

Everyone has a favorite cheesecake.  For me, it’s simple and plain, firm and dense, with barely a crust at all.  And it’s okay if the top cracks after baking – there is no leakage of deliciousness out of it!  Feel free to top yours with the pie filling of your choice.  I’ll eat mine plain.

Ingredients

½ cp graham cracker crumbs

2 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened

1 lb cottage cheese

1 ½ cp sugar

4 medium or 3 large eggs, slightly beaten

3 T cornstarch

3 T flour

1 ½ T fresh lemon juice

2 t vanilla

½ cp butter, melted

2 cp sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325º.  Butter a 9” spring form pan.  Press graham cracker crumbs over bottom and up sides of pan.

In a food processor, place cottage cheese and pulse until smooth.  Add cream cheese and mix until creamy and well combined.  Gradually mix in sugar, then add eggs until well combined.

At low speed, mix in cornstarch, flour, lemon juice, and vanilla.  Add melted butter and sour cream; mix until just smooth.

Pour mixture into prepared pan.  Bake 1 hour 10 minutes, or until firm around the edges.  Turn oven off and let cake stand in oven for 2 hours.

Remove cheesecake from oven; let cool completely.  Refrigerate several hours until well chilled.  Run a spatula around the side of the cake to loosen from the pan.  Remove the side of the pan, leaving the bottom of the pan in place.