New York Style Cheesecake

♥ Special thanks to Mr. K for plating up and taking the photo for this post! ♥

While going through our combined collection of cookbooks and recipe cards/booklets, I came across an old promotional booklet for Eagle® Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.  It's about 5 inches tall and features twenty recipes and looked like it was from the eighties:

I had big plans to make a New York style cheesecake and slice it, separate the slices with parchment paper, and stash it away in the freezer for whenever those cheesecake cravings strike.  We proceeded to enjoy the cheesecake over the course of a week or so, changing up the toppings each time (stawberry, chocolate, caramel sauce, lemon curd, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, etc.).  By the end there was nothing left for the freezer!  Oh well.  Take that as a good sign that this is one tasty cheesecake! 

Bear in mind that with the long bake time (no water bath needed) and addition of flour, this cheesecake will be drier than the creamy gooey cheescakes you might be used to.  The texture is smooth and dense--firm enough break off cleanly with your fork.  A quick peek at the current NY Style Cheesecake recipe now featured on the Eagle® Brand website shows that they've tweaked their recipe over the years to include less flour than originally called for, as well as a shortened baking time.  Perhaps our tastes have changed over the years?  I'll have to give the newer version of the recipe a try sometime when cream cheese goes on sale again.  An 8 ounce block is currently $1.99 (even generic!); this cheesecake used up my stockpile of cream cheese I scored for $0.88 each!


New York Style Cheesecake
From "Delicious Desserts Made Easy" by Borden

Yield: one 9-inch cheesecake

1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup flour
4 eggs
1 (14-ounce) can Eagle® Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Tbl. vanilla extract
1 tsp. grated lemon rind (I used lemon extract)

Preheat oven to 300°F.  In saucepan, melt margarine; stir in crumbs and sugar.  Pat firmly on bottom of buttered 9-inch springform pan.  In large mixer bowl, beat cheese until fluffy.  Beat in 1/2 cup flour and 4 eggs; mix well.  Stir in Eagle® Brand, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes.  Cool to room temperature.  Chill.  Remove side of pan.  Garnish as desired.  Refrigerate leftovers.