Donnas Famous Cheesecake Recipes

Steps:

• In bowl combine flour, sugar and lemon zest. Make a well in center; add egg yolk, vanilla and butter. Blend with finger tips or fork until mixture resembles a crumbly rich cookie dough.
• Divide dough into 2 parts, one part slightly larger than the other. Grease a 9-inch spring-form pan; remove rim. Shape the smaller part of the dough into a ball; place in the botton of pan, Top with waxed paper; roll to edge, reserving any excess dough. remove paper.
• Bake in preheated 400F oven 6-8 minutes; cool.
• Divide remaining half of dough into 4 parts; roll each part between 2 pieces of waxed paper into 3x8 inch strips. Reassemble springorm pan. Remove top sheet of waxed paper from each pastry strip. Place one strip of pastry at a time along inside rim of pan, press against rim, remove paper. Repeat with remaining pastry strips, overlapping ends each time and pressing to seal.
• Cheesecake Filling:.
• In large bowl of mixer beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and lemon zest until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time., until thouroughly combined. Stir in milk and vanilla.
• Spoon Cream Cheese Filling into pan. Bake in a preheated 450F oven 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 250F and bake 1 hour and 20 minutes longer.
• Cool on wire rack until completely cooled.
• Pineapple Topping:.
• In small saucepan combine pineappple and cornstarch. Cook and stir until mixture bols and thickens. Stir in vanilla, cool.
• Spread Pineapple Topping over cheesecake. Cover lightly and refrigerate until cold. Loosen crust from pan with knife or spatula. Remove rim. Garnish with sliced strawberries, if desired. Makes about 16 servings.

Steps:

• The day before you plan to serve the cheesecake:
• 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Make and bake the cake crust as directed and leave it in the pan. Keep the oven on.
• 2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment if your mixer has one, beat 1 package of the cream cheese, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and the cornstarch together on low until creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times. Blend in the remaining cream cheese, one package at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each.
• 3. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat in the remaining sugar, then the vanilla. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the cream just until completely blended. The filling will look light, creamy, airy, and almost like billowy clouds. Be careful not to overmix! Gently spoon the batter over the crust.
• 4. Place the cake pan in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes halfway (about 1 inch) up the side of the springform. Bake until the edge is light golden brown, the top is light gold, and the center barely jiggles, about 1 1/4 hours. If the cake still feels soft around the edge, let it bake for 10 minutes more (the cooking time will be about the same for both the 8- and 9-inch cheesecakes). Remove the cheesecake from the water bath, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours (just walk away-don't move it). Then, leave the cake in the pan, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until completely cold before serving, preferably overnight or for at least 6 hours.
• On serving day:
• 5. Release and remove the side of the springform, leaving the cake on the bottom of the pan. Place on a cake plate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Slice with a sharp straight-edge knife, not a serrated one, rinsing the knife with warm water between slices. Refrigerate any leftover cake, tightly covered, and enjoy within 2 days, or wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.

Steps:

• Crust: In a medium bowl with hands or the back of a spoon mix graham cracker crumbs with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup soft butter until they are well combined. Press mixture on bottom and sides of 9 inch spring form pan building up sides of pan to form a rim all around. Refrigerate until needed. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Filling: In a large bowl of a electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar flour, lemon peel and vanilla. Beat on high speed just until blended. Beat in eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Add cream, beating until just blended. Pour into crust lined spring form pan. Bake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes then turn temperature down to 250 degrees and bake for 1 hour. After the cheesecake comes out of the oven spread sour cream on top of cheesecake. Let cool in spring form pan on wire rack until cool to touch then refrigerate overnight for best results. To serve remove loosen crust from sides of pan and remove side of spring form pan and slip a long enough knife underneath the crust of the bottom of cheesecake the bottom should be very hard and the cheesecake will slide very easily to a platter for serving.
• Garnish with fruit, whipping cream or many types of toppings!