Old-Fashioned New York Style Cheesecake with Berry Coulis

This is the tastiest cheesecake recipe I have ever tried. It's from Emeril and is creamy with a lot of substance to it. Although the recipe has a raspberry sauce on it, don't limit yourself with it. I have used melted chocolate on it, with some fresh strawberries, and a little bit of whipped cream. Can you picture it? Yummy, isn't it?:))

One of the reasons I like this cake is because it uses a basic graham cracker crust, which you can use for other cakes. I don't have the time to deal with dough, and to tell you the truth, I have never tried it. It has always scared me to get into it. So I try to choose cakes where I don't have to deal with making dough. And cheesecake foots the bill:)

When you are covering the cake with foil, be careful that it doesn't touch the top of the cake, otherwise it will stick to it. And you can't skip using it, otherwise the top of the cake will be too brown.

Add a lot of water to the bath, it will be cooking for a long time, and you don't want it to dry out.

When you remove it from the oven, run a wet knife around the edges to be sure it didn't stick to the sides and cause a crack when cooling.

Enjoy:)

OLD-FASHIONED NEW YORK STYLE CHEESECAKE WITH BERRY COULIS

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, plus 1 1/2 cups
2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened
1 lemon, zested
1 orange, zested
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from inside of pod and reserved
1 teaspoon bourbon
Raspberry Coulis, recipe follows

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. In a mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, and 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and mix well. Press onto bottom of springform pan and bake until golden, about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

When completely cooled, butter the sides of the pan. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, 1 1/2 cups sugar, zests, and vanilla and beat until light and creamy. Add the flour, then the eggs and yolks 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the sour cream, vanilla bean seeds, and bourbon and mix until smooth.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Wrap the pan in foil and place in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting with enough hot water to come half way up the sides of the pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer cake to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Refrigerate cake overnight before serving. Serve with raspberry coulis.

For the Coulis:

Ingredients:
2 pints fresh raspberries (may substitute blackberries)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
Few drops lemon juice

Directions:
Combine raspberries, sugar, water, and orange zest and cook until berries are soft and liquid is syrupy, about 10 minutes. Let cool slightly then puree in a blender. Strain through a fine sieve, transfer to a bowl, and refrigerate, covered, until completely chilled. Stir in Grand Marnier and lemon juice.