Basic Cheesecake Tips
If you’re planning on making any cheesecake recipes, you must have a springform pan. A springform pan consists of two parts: a circular flat bottom, and a side formed in a circle. The circular side is not continuous; it’s split in two at one location. A spring-like clasp locks or unlocks the side. The bottom fits into the side, the side is then locked, and the pan has a top and bottom. When unlocked, the side opens and the bottom (and the pie) can be removed.
Cheesecake crusts differ from standard pie crusts. A regular pie crust forms a bowl with bottom and sides that contains a pie filling. A cheesecake crust is more of a flat “plate”. The puffy cheesecake sits on top of this plate with no crusty sides.
Standard Crust Recipe
Standard cheesecake crust is made of crushed cookies (vanilla wafers, vanilla or chocolate sandwich creams, Graham crackers or, in Britain, McVities Digestive biscuits are perfect) mixed with butter or margarine. Flavoring like instant coffee, crushed mint chips, or crushed nuts are often added.
- 1 dozen chocolate sandwich cream cookies
- 3 Tbsp butter
Crush cookies and mix with butter until well combined. Press cookie mixture into the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan.
