Cheesecake

For this recipe, use a 10-inch spring form pan with 2 ½-inch high sides. Please use a pan with these dimensions, as it gets the best results.

Lightly grease the bottom and interior sides of pan with shortening. (Baking Spray can be substituted, but shortening works the best.)

Wrap the bottom and exterior walls of the prepared pan with a double thickness of aluminum foil; set the prepared pan aside.

Set the oven rack to the second to the lowest position in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Cut the cold butter in ¼-inch cubes, and toss them in with the graham cracker pieces in food processor. Pulse the butter into the crumbs until it disappears and the mixture is very moist. (Creating about 1 ¾ to 2 cups of the mixture.)

Dump the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the prepared spring form pan.

Press the crumbs into a compact layer on the bottom of the pan, and about an inch up the side walls.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove it from the oven and place it in the refrigerator to cool.

Reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees F.

With mixer, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and cornstarch on medium speed until very smooth and creamy, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and sour cream until well blended.

Turn the mixer on low speed, and slowly pour the egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture and continue to mix until all is incorporated and smooth; scrape down the bowl as necessary.

Pour the filling into the cooled crust.

Fold a clean kitchen towel to line the bottom of a large roasting pan.

Set the filled spring form pan onto the towel in the center of the roasting pan.

Place the roasting pan onto the second to the lowest rack in the preheated oven (250 F.)

Pour boiling water into the roasting pan around the spring form pan, until it comes 1 inch up the side of the pan, being cautious not to splash any water onto the filling.

Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes. Do not open the door of the oven, turn the light on, or otherwise peek at the cheesecake during this time–doing so will cause the oven temperature to fluctuate, and will affect the final results.

After an hour and ten minutes has passed, turn the oven off, and open the door to peek at the cheesecake and allow some of the heat to escape. The outer inch and a half of the cheesecake should look mostly set, with the interior being runny in appearance.

Close the oven door, and allow the cheesecake to set in the oven for an additional 62 minutes. The heat remaining in the walls of the oven and in the water surrounding the cheesecake will finish baking the filling. Again, don’t open the door and peek during this time.

At the end of the final hour, carefully remove the cheesecake from the roasting pan, open the foil (but don't remove) around the pan to let any water escape, and set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 1 hour. The center of the cake may still look a little jiggly, but so long as it doesn’t look like soup, this is fine. The custard will continue to set as it cools.

After an hour of cooling on the wire rack, finish removing the foil surrounding the spring form pan. Run a thin knife between the cheesecake and wall of the pan to ensure that the cake isn’t sticking to the sides. The cheesecake will pull away from the wall of the spring form pan as it cools. Set the pan in the refrigerator to cool overnight. Do not wrap the pan in any way, as steam will continue to escape during this time.