A New Yorker's Real Italian Cheesecake

Total Time: 4 hrs 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• 10 sheets graham crackers, sheets ground in a food processor to texture of fine crumbs (should be a little over 1 cup total)
• 1 1/8 tablespoons sugar
• 4 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
• 24 ounces ricotta cheese
• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 eggs
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 325°f.
• 2 wrap the outside of a 10-inch springform pan with foil to prevent water from seeping in while baking.
• 3 mix sugar, crumbs, and melted butter together well to form crust.
• 4 press this mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and up the sides until you run out.
• 5 bake crust for about 7-10 minutes or until golden brown.
• 6 cool on wire rack while preparing the batter.
• 7 with a mixer, cream together ricotta cheese, cream cheese, flour, and sugar until very smooth.
• 8 mix in the eggs one at a time, blend well but do not over mix the batter!
• 9 stir in the sour cream and vanilla by hand.
• 10 pour mixture into cooled crust.
• 11 place cheesecake into a large rectangular pan filled with about 1 1/2 inches of hot water.
• 12 make sure foil is high enough around the springform pan so that no water seeps into it while baking.
• 13 bake for 90 minutes.
• 14 after 90 minutes, turn oven off but leave cake in oven for another 60 minutes (do not open oven door).
• 15 carefully remove cake from water pan and remove foil from springform pan.
• 16 cool on wire rack for 1 hour.
• 17 cover cake with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator overnight.
• 18 enjoy!