Sharon's Famous Cheesecake!

Wow! Thank you to everyone who attended our cooking class yesterday! If you weren't able to make it you missed an AWESOME class!

Sharon Garcia taught us the tips and tricks to making her famous cheesecakes! Lucky for you, she is willing to share her superb recipe with all of us! THANK YOU Sharon!!! Our husbands will thank you too!

Sharon Garcia's Cheesecake

Crust:

1 1/2 coconut cookie crumbs (or graham crackers)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened (can use generic and 1/3 fat)
5 eggs
16 oz sour cream
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla (or pure vanilla extract)

For crust, Sharon recommends using crushed coconut cookies because they have lots of flavor as compared to a graham cracker crust. You can use a food processer to grind crumbs, or just place cookies in a ziploc freezer bag and roll with rolling pin. Mix cookie crumbs with sugar then add melted butter (if crumbs don't stick together, add more butter). Cover bottom of springform pan with wax or parchment paper so cheesecake can easily be lifted out of the pan. Firmly press cookie crumb mixture on bottom and sides of pan.

For filling: place softenend cream cheese in large glass mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. Add eggs one at a time just until well blended and creamy (over mixing incorporates too much air in the cheesecake and can cause cracking. Sharon's tip for getting bubbles out is to pound the bowl against a table until the bubbles pop). Stir in sour cream just until blended.

In a separate bowl mix lemon juice and corn starch until smooth, add to cream cheese mixture. Add vanilla and mix just until combined. Pour over crust and bake at 350 for one hour. Do not overcook. If the cheesecake begins to inflate or "poof" on the edges, take it out immediately. The center of the cake (approximately 2" diameter) will look soft or damp and may be like thick jello, but not liquidy. Let cool for about an hour before placing in the fridge (editor note- I turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool- it usually takes an hour and then I don't see and smell the cheesecake and be tempted to cut into it early).

Chill before serving, best if chilled overnight.

We swirled raspberry sauce into some of the cheesecakes we made yesterday. You can use frozen raspberries (or any fruit) and heat in saucepan- we added strawberry jam to sweeten them up, but you could also add sugar, the sugar in either form will cause the fruit to "bleed" making it a thin syrup- if you want it thicker just sprinkle a little flour or cornstarch in and mix until it reaches desired thickness. You can then swirl it in the cheesecake just before baking or use it to serve on top of the cheesecake.