Baked Jewish "New York" Cheesecake

Shavu’ot (Festival of Weeks) Background

Jewish men and women in Israel join their brethren around the world to learn all night and many also eat cheesecake and other dairy foods, all in the name of observing the Shavuot holiday. 

But Why Dairy?

It is customary to eat dairy foods on this holiday for a number of reasons.

Some derive the practice directly from scripture, saying we eat dairy to symbolize the "land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8) promised to the Israelites, or that "milk and honey are under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11).

One of the sages also discovered that the initials of the four Hebrew words in Numbers 28:26, which describe the sacrificial meal offering on Shavuot, spell "mey chalav" (literally, “from milk”), which suggests that dairy is the acceptable food for the festival.

Those of Kabbalistic [a more mystical Judaism] persuasion equate the numerical value of the word chalav (milk), which is 40 (the Hebrew letters for milk have a numeric value, as follows: 'chet' = 8, 'lamed' = 30, 'vet' = 2), with the number of days Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments and other teachings (Exodus 24:18).

Others look to the mountain itself, which is termed in Psalms mount of gavnunim (68:15), meaning many peaks. They connect that description with the Hebrew word g'vinah, meaning “cheese”. 

Baked “New York” Cheesecake Instructions: 

Makes one 9 inch (23 cm) cheesecake. 

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 cups (200 grams) of digestive biscuit crumbs (you can process whole biscuits in a food processor until they become crumbs)
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup (114 grams) unsalted butter, melted 

Filling:

• 32 ounces (1 kg) (4 - 8 ounces packages) cream cheese, room temperature (use full fat, not reduced or fat free cream cheese)
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
• 3 tablespoons (35 grams) all purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping:

• 1 cup (240 ml) sour cream
• 2 tablespoons (30 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. 

Preparation:

1. Grease, or spray a 9 inch (23 cm) “springform” pan. 
2. Place the pan on a larger baking pan to catch any leakage while the cheesecake is baking. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with rack in centre of oven. 

For the Base:

1. In a medium sized bowl combine the digestive biscuit crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. 
2. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch (2.5 cm) up the sides of the springform pan. 
3. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling. 

For the Filling:

1. In bowl of your electric mixer place the cream cheese, sugar, and flour. 
2. Beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). 
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 30 seconds) after each addition. 
4. Add the whipping cream, lemon zest, vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. 
5. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling. 
6. Place the cheesecake pan on a larger baking pan and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) and continue to bake for about another 1 1/2 hours or until firm and only the centre of the cheesecake looks a little wet and wobbly. 
8. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.
9. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. 
10. Spread the topping over the warm cheesecake and return to oven to bake for 15 more minutes. 
11. Remove from oven and carefully run a knife or spatula around the inside edge of pan to loosen the cheesecake (helps prevent the surface from cracking as it cools).
12. Let cool before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating. 

General Tips: 

Sometimes the surface of the cheesecake cracks.  To help prevent this from happening do not over beat the batter, especially when creaming the cheese and sugar. 

Another reason for cracking is over baking the cheesecake.  Your cheesecake is done when it is firm but the middle may still look a little wet. 

Also, make sure the springform pan is well greased as cracking can occur if the cheesecake sticks to the sides as it cools. 

This cheesecake tastes best after being refrigerated for at least a day.