Blueberry Cheesecake

I made the most devilishly-tasty cheesecake. My first ever and the most brilliant! (Screw the modesty) I felt I should share it with the world. The recipe, ofcourse. The cheesecake was polished off in 2 days.

Presenting the Blueberry Cheesecake!

I can call it mine, because it is adapted from different sources (I cease to remember exactly which ones), readings and my very own unique taste palette over the years..

Also, photographing stuff at 2 AM in the night is clearly not one of my superpowers, so bear with the mess and clumsy photographs!

Blueberry Cheesecake

Crust - Ingredients:

·        2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs  

·        2/3 cup reduced-fat vanilla wafer crumbs

·        2 tablespoons sugar (I omit it whilst not baking for an occasion)

·        1 and a 1/2 + 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted ( Just for binding the "dough")

Directions

Preheat oven to 325° F.

To prepare crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, vanilla wafer crumbs and sugar ingredients in a medium bowl.

Drizzle with 1 and a 1/2 tablespoon butter; toss with a fork until moist. (This is our "dough") Firmly press mixture into bottom of a 9-inch spring-form pan coated remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter. Bake at 325° F for 10 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

Pressed onto the pan

After baking the crust.

Filling – Ingredients: (This can be easily halved or doubled)

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature* (see note below)
• 8 ounces sour cream*
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Boiling water, for roasting pan
• I tea spoon salt                

Directions

Place cheeses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed for 3 minutes or until smooth.

Cream Cheese - and my phone.

Combine the sugar and salt in a small bowl. Add sugar mixture to cheese mixture; beat well. Add the egg, beating well after each addition. Beat Well. Really well.

Beat really well and ignore my messy bowl - it was 2 AM in the night!

 You should have a nice luscious-cheesy-consistency mixture. Everything should be folded in well. Grease the sides of the pan lightly with butter. Pour batter over prepared crust.

Pour the mixture into the spring-form pan.

Pour 1 cup blueberry sauce (recipe below) over batter;  gently swirl with a knife to create a purple marble effect.

Who's the artist, now?

Set spring-form pan in a large, oven proof pan. (I used a deep cookie sheet!) Place in oven. Carefully ladle enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up sides of springform pan. (Yes, it didn't come upto the sides at all.)

Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until cheesecake center barely moves when pan is touched. It should have a slight caramel colour on the top. If it doesn't have it even after an hour of baking, just use your judgement to see if it's set and baked. Switch off the oven and remove cheesecake from oven place cheesecake on a wire rack (or let it sit in the spring-form pan because you're too lazy) to cool.

Baked cheese cake - don't be scared by the cracks!

Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 3 cups blueberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter (Use upto 2 tablespoons if you want it glossy and are making it for an event/occassion)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (Maida would do too)

Directions

Let the blueberries remain, don't drain them out.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, and cook until berries break down and the sauce thickens a bit, about 4-5 minutes. Let cool for just a bit, so that you don't burn yourself.

Shiny with just a tablespoon butter!

After swirling in the sauce, keep the remaining for later. When the cheesecake is cooled out, take a butter knife or a spatula and spread the sauce across the cake. Let it drip to the sides, make it precise, do whatever you fancy :)

Most important: Slurp and Enjoy!

* Note = you can also use 8+8 ounces of cream cheese and omit the sour cream, like I did here.