La Buona Cucina Americana: Cheesecake

Italians know that Americans make great desserts. They’ve usually heard of this one and that one, although if they haven’t spent long times in the US they are often surprised when I make one they’ve asked for. Apple pie was so surprising that my hostess cut it into bites and forced everyone at the party to try it. Italian torta di mele (to us, apple pie) is a cake with apples baked on top. When I told them that where I grew up we eat it with cheese, their eyes rolled back into their heads.

So I reckoned my lunch guests would have heard of cheesecake, because I have heard it mentioned on food and cooking shows. It turns out only one of them knew of it and none of them had ever tasted it. This is not surprising these days since most people nowadays only eat factory made, pastryshop made or frozen “cheesecakes”. Even in the US. Once upon a time every cook worth her salt made cheesecake of some sort. There were instant sorts you could make with cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk, no-cook varieties of other descriptions and cooked cheesecakes of various complexities. I always made a classic cheesecake recipe that served 16-24 people, and eg remembers it so fondly that when I left the US she asked for my standard mixer “because it makes cheesecake.” It has not so far in the interceding nine years made it for her.

There’s no way I would want that much cheesecake around my house during a diet. Luckily, when the last graham cracker crumb package was empty some years back, I saved the recipe panel from it and there was a recipe for a light but genuine American cheesecake in a more acceptible size. When I reached for it to show Tina, it slid down behind the cupboards, the caulking between the marble and the tile having separated. Drat! Fortunately I remembered the recipe since I had made it only the night before.

It happens I have wonderful vanilla extract in the kitchen, but if you don’t, you can easily make vanilla sugar by burying a vanilla bean in sugar for some days. Vanilla beans can be purchased at every Italian supermarket of any size. You can also buy zucchero vanigliato, but it costs lots more.

And of course we have no graham crackers here, but we do have frollini, a dry cookie made without fat, and you can buy really cheap ones that do this job perfectly well.

The cream cheese can be Kraft Philadelphia or an Italian copy that you know and like. Not all of them are very good, so taste first if you are baking cheesecake in Italy.

More than everything, though, I want you to know that this recipe is easy. Serve it my way, unadorned, or add fruit topping, decorations, accents of imaginative sorts, it will always make an impression because it is delicious. Just follow the directions and you, like generations of Americans before you, will make a lovely cheesecake that will cool with a crack right across the top. In all the years I have been baking cheesecakes, 80% of mine have come out with that crack. As you can see, this one was no exception. None of the “secrets” I have read have changed that effect, so if it bothers you, be ready with the fruit glaze.

Cheesecake

Serves 8-10
Preheat oven to 350°F/170°C
Crust:
1-3/4 cups (205 g) fine cookie crumbs
1/3 cup (75 g) butter
¼ cup (53 g) sugar

Batter:
3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese or formaggio fresco spalmabile such as Philadelphia
1 cup (210 g) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup (250 ml) Greek yogurt

Melt the butter in a small pan. Pour over the mixed cookie crumbs and sugar, and stir with a fork. It will become a crumbly, sandy mixyure. Using your hands, press it onto the bottom and side of a springform pan of 8-9”. The crust should reach to about 1-1/2” high on the sides. Put it aside.

In a big bowl, beat the cream cheese, the sugar and the vanilla with a mixer at high speed until it is very light and fluffy. Scrape the sides down frequently. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in thoroughly. Add the yogurt and blend it in at slow speed.

Scrape the better into the pan holding the crust. It will be a little higher than the crust, but that’s okay. Put it into the hot oven and cook it for 60-70 minutes until the center is set. I tested it with a toothpick until it came out clean. Turn off the heat and leave the cake in the oven with the door slightly ajar for a further hour. This is supposed to prevent cracking, but as you can see, there are no guarantees.

Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to completely cool. When it is totally at room temperature (test with your palm in the middle of the bottom) run a slim knife around the edge very carefully, then release the spring latch and remove the sides of the pan. Place the cake, pan bottom and all, on a large serving plate and decorate or glaze to your heart’s content.

As I cut the cheesecake to serve it, everyone asked for “smaller, smaller, that’s too much for me!” until I snapped, “Don’t tell me smaller, smaller. I’m cutting pieces that I can take away without making the cake look like dogfood! You don’t have to eat what you don’t want.” We chattered away while we ate our cake. Then I noticed a hand reaching out to cut another tiny slice, then another hand and another. “Stop with the little pieces!” I cried. “You’re ruining its looks.” Whereupon someone picked up a serving spoon and started to eat straight from the cake with it.

I think they liked it.

They asked me to translate and publish the recipe in Italian, so here it is.

Tutti conoscono che gli Americani fanno bene I dolci, ma quasi nessun Italiano conosce bene i dolci americani come sono veramente. E’ per questo motivo che ho cucinato il cheesecake per un pranzo di donne. Le piaceva tanto e hanno chiesto la ricetta tradotta. Eccola.

Torta di Formaggio

8-10 porzioni
Riscalda il forno a 170°C

La crosta

205 g frollini classici sbriciolati fini
75 g burro sciolto
53 g zucchero

Mescolate bene and con le mani foderate una forma “springform” di 20-23 cm fino a circa 3.75 cm d’altezza. La forma springform viene in due parti che chiude a chiavistello. La mia ho comprato qui in Italia, ma tutto il testo sulla scatola è in inglese.

La torta

680 g formaggio fresco spalmabile, tipo Philadelphia
210 g zucchero vanigliato (si può farlo facilmente chiudendo i chicchi di vaniglia con qualche zucchero, chiuso bene per dei giorni)
3 uova
250 ml yogurt Greco, sempre naturale invece lo 0%

In una ciottola abbastanza grande, battete il formaggio con lo zucchero fino a diventa una crema leggiera e bianchissima. Una alla volta aggiungete le uova, battendo dope ognuno. Aggiungete lo yogurt, mescolando lentamente. Inversate il misto nella crosta, facendolo livello. Infornarlo per 60-70 minuti, fino al centro non è più liquido.

Spende il forno è lasciarlo aperto un po’ per un altr’ora. Togliete dal forno dopo l’ora seconda è lasciatela rafreddare alla temperatura ambiente. Con un coltello, separate la torta dalla forma con tanta cura. Poi slacciate la forma, lasciando a posto il fondo. Questo è perchè la torta è delicata e sarebbe molto più sicuro sulla base. Mettete la torta e la base sul piatto di portata e decorarla come volete. Di solito usiamo la frutta, foglie di menta, o fiori per decorazione.