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JUDY’S CHEESECAKE

Cheesecakemama, you sure have earned your moniker! I admit, I was skeptical about the baking method as well as the large amount of sour cream for just two packages of cream cheese. But you were right – this turned out perfectly just as you said it would! This is a light and creamy cheesecake, far different from some of the more dense, heavy and kind of dry cheesecakes. You were right on about the cheesecake not cracking too!

Your recipe is perfect for any baker, novice or experienced. For my own preference, however, the crust was a little thicker than I would like, so next time it will be easy enough to cut it back to maybe one cup of crumbs to suit my tastes, but others may like it just as is. Delicious on it’s own or with any variety of toppings, I served this with Supreme Strawberry Topping, recipe also from this site. I’m so happy your wonderful recipe got published – not just for you, but for the hundreds of home bakers I know are going to be pleased with it too!

When I saw this recipe in an old recipe tin, I didn’t give it much of a thought. Simply titled “Cheese Cake,” and then clarified in smaller writing to the right: “Judys Cheese Cake,” there wasn’t really much that drew my eye to the plain index card with shaky handwriting. On a second pass through the stack of vintage recipes though, I took a closer look and once I saw the crust ingredients, I just knew I had to make it.

I came up with this because I wanted simple, but elegant too. I wanted the taste of restaurant cheesecake, but something simple to prepare–because I did not want to measure the sour cream, I dumped in the whole container. I also did not want to bake for an hour, so that is where the 30 minute shut-off of the oven comes into play. I shut off the oven and do not open door for 6 hours or leave in oven all night. This will get you great reviews from friends. You also will not order cheesecake out again. If it cracks, garnish with fruit to hide the cracks.

See, the crust is made with Nilla wafer cookies, and when I read that I had this sudden memory of a banana cream pudding pie my mom used to make that was lined with those cookies. That pie was good… but what I remember most is that I would eagerly eat the remaining wafers out of the box. We didn’t have them around that often when I was a kid, but I loved them. And so I thought, I have to make this cheesecake. That crust is going to be amazing! Well, I’m sure glad I did. Because it was.

I’d never made a cheesecake before in my life but finally got nerve enough to try one. I reviewed many but settled on this one because it seemed simple and straightforward. While it was relatively simple, the flavor was anything but. This cheesecake was fantastic and certainly a crowd-pleaser. I’ll be making this again and again.