New York Cheesecake

The New York Cheesecake is a classic American dessert. Here’s the recipe enriched with an Italian touch.

Ingredients

• 900g of creamy cheese like Philadelphia
• 200g of sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (here you can notice the Italian influence)
• 250g of Digestive biscuits or another type of your choice
• 100g of melted butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons of flour

Preparation

1. Prepare the base by crushing the biscuits and mixing them with the melted butter until a homogeneous mixture is obtained. Press the mixture into the bottom of a previously buttered springform pan and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
2. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 160 °C.
3. In a large bowl, mix the creamy cheese until it becomes smooth, then add the sugar and flour and mix well.
4. Incorporate the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and salt, and mix until everything is well combined.
6. Pour the cheese mixture over the cold biscuit base.
7. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until the center is almost completely set.
8. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake inside with the door ajar for another hour.
9. Remove from the oven and let cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, better if overnight.
10. Serve cold, optionally with a berry sauce, to add a touch of sweet acidity, typical of Italian cuisine.

Curiosities

The New York Cheesecake is different from the original version mainly because of the use of only creamy cheese (without ricotta or cream), which makes it denser and taller. It is said to have originated in the 1920s at a New York restaurant, when the owner decided to revisit the recipe for a dish based on cheese and shortcrust pastry that he had tasted during a trip to Europe.