#BakingWithKids: Cheesecake

This is gonna be an unusually long post.

There are two sessions of #BakingWithKids on our Open Kitchen this week, and both of them are cheesecakes. The first session is using this New York Style Cheesecake recipe and the second is Lori's Cheesecake. Both are great. 

The first recipe results in softer, lighter, creamy cheesecake. The second recipe yields denser, sweeter, milky cheesecake. Your call.

New York Style Cheesecake

Modified by Cokelatia

Note: The original recipe calls for sour cream. Because it is rather tricky to find, I tried using homemade buttermilk made of evaporated milk and vinegar. It worked well.

Ingredients:
50 grams biscuits
20 grams butter, melted
250 grams cream cheese, room temperature
100 grams sugar
1/2 tbsp corn starch
2 eggs
1-2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
a pinch of salt
250 ml homemade buttermilk

Methods:
Prepare homemade buttermilk: heat 250 ml evaporated milk just until before it boils. Add 1/2 tsp vinegar, stir well. Let it sit in room temperature until curdle. The texture will resemble yogurt.

Make the crust: finely crush the biscuit, add melted butter, stir until combined. Press into a 15 cm round pan (I used aluminium foil pan). Set aside.

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and fluffy.
Add corn starch. Add eggs one by one, mixing until well combined.
Add lemon juice and salt, mix well.
Pour in the buttermilk, mix until just combined.
Pour into the prepared pan.
Put the pan onto other wider and lower pan filled with boiling water. The height of water should not more than one third of the round pan height.
Bake in 160 Celsius until set, about 45 minutes. Let cool.
Store in the fridge overnight before serving.

Because of its lighter taste, I made this one an Oreo Cheesecake by adding coarsely crushed Oreos to the cheesecake batter. It doesn't look very appealing. Tastes good, though.

Lori's Cheesecake

Modified by Cokelatia

Ingredients:
50 grams biscuits
20 grams butter, melted
250 grams cream cheese
1/2 can sweet condensed milk (about 180 grams)
2 eggs
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Methods:
Make the crust: finely crush the biscuit, add melted butter, stir until combined. Press into a 15 cm round pan (I used aluminium foil pan). Set aside.

Beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy.
Add condensed milk, beating until smooth.
Add eggs one by one, beating well.
Add lemon juice, mix until combined.
Pour into the prepared pan.
Put the pan onto other wider and lower pan filled with boiling water. The height of water should not more than one third of the round pan height.
Bake in 160 Celsius until set, about 45 minutes. Let cool.
Store in the fridge overnight before serving.

For this denser cheesecake, we match it with strawberries to add freshness and tanginess into the strong and milky taste. Perfect match.

After going into jars there's still a little bit of cheesecake batter left. Not letting anything go to waste I made it into cheesecake bars topped with strawberry jam.