How to make an American cheesecake at home

Many have heard, and some even managed to taste the famous American dessert called cheesecake. In translation, this word simply means a cheese cake, but it looks like little to our currywoman. In appearance, it resembles a cake, and to taste - a pudding casserole. You can also see in it a distant relationship with tiramisu (since in its preparation soft cheese and cookies participate). Can I reproduce the classic American cheesecake at home? Of course, because it does not require any "exotic" products.

What is the "classic of the genre" with regard to cheesecake? After all, in different states this dessert is cooked in its own way, but nevertheless, Utah, and Illinois, and Texas consider their cheese cake the most-right. Someone uses cream, someone - sour cream, and someone - condensed milk. Do not be afraid to experiment, and you will succeed. So, how to cook cheesecake at home? We need to start with the necessary products.

For the basis, we need 300 g of crumbly pastry or sweet cracker, 4 tablespoons of sugar and a half-pack of butter. Filling is what distinguishes an American syrnik from any other dessert. For it, we need to stock up almost a kilogram of soft cheese. It can be ricotta, mascarpone, and also such varieties as "Buko" or neutral "Philadelphia". Also needed are 5 eggs, 4 glasses of flour, one and a half glasses of sugar, a vanilla sachet, lemon and a pinch of salt. The top of the product should cover the glaze: for it we buy a liter of fatty sour cream, half a glass of sugar and another bag of vanilla. It seems to be all. The products are purchased, so we are preparing cheesecake.

The base is made very easily: we chop the cookies (meat grinder, blender or pestle in a mortar). We sprinkle the crumbs with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and mash it with hands to a homogeneous mass. We put it in a split mold, in which cakes are baked. It is best to take it in a diameter of 20-25 cm. We rammer the mass. We bake our cheesecake at home in a preheated to 180 C oven for about 10 minutes. Cool it down. The lower stratum can be said to be ready.

In a bowl with high sides, beat the mixer at low speeds with cheese, sugar, lemon juice with zest, and also vanilla and salt. We pour in flour and introduce one egg each time, without ceasing to work as a mixer. When it turns out a fluffy homogeneous and liquid mass, we lubricate the walls of the split form with oil, and pour the stuffing there. Under the cake we put a small bowl with water, and put this complex construction in the oven for about an hour. Our cheesecake at home will be ready when the outer edges become red, and the middle will remain gelatinous.

Now we are preparing the glaze: in the mixer we mix all the ingredients for it until the sugar dissolves completely. If the top of the product has cracked when baking, do not get discouraged - the glaze will disguise all defects. On the back of the spoon we smear the top of the product and we bake for another 7 minutes. Separate the edges of the cake from the sides of the cake with the knife, but do not remove it. When the cheesecake at home completely cool, put it for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. Serve with syrup, topping, fresh berries.