Yield: One 6″ x 3″ cheesecake (or 9″)
A classic favorite dessert … sublimely simple.
Ingredients:
- 2 – 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup organic cane sugar (NOTE: We recommend Merchant Spice Co.’s Vanilla Sugar or Maple Sugar in place of plain sugar, to add a subtle essence of flavor to your cheesecake.)
- 3 T. vanilla rum (or excellent quality vanilla extract)
- 2 T. flour
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1/8 t. salt (NOTE: A pinch or so of salt ‘peaks’ the flavor of sweet dishes.)
- Pat of butter to coat the baking dish (NOTE: This time, we used a 6″ wide x 3″ deep cake pan. Other times, we’ve used a porcelain French tart dish, approximately 9″ in diameter by 1½” deep.)
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Butter your baking dish.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition just until blended. Next, mix in the sour cream, flour and salt, until smooth. Pour the mixture into the baking dish.
Prepare a ‘water bath’ for your cheesecake. Place the baking dish (with the cheesecake mixture in it) within a rimmed baking pan and place into the oven. Carefully pour hot water into the outer baking pan, filling it approximately half way up the side of the baking dish with the cheesecake mixture.
Bake approximately 1 hour, give or take 5-15 minutes, until the center of the cheesecake is almost set. Cool the dish and then refrigerate for 4 or more hours before serving.
Serve slices of cheesecake accompanied by deep, rich French or Italian roast coffee.
Merchant Spice Co. 