Cappuccino Cheesecake

I love coffee...and I love cheesecake. So one day I decided that I needed to combine the two and create a delectable cheesecake. My family LOVES this cheesecake - whenever I ask them what kind of cheesecake I should make, it's the first flavor that pops into their mind. I adapted the basic cheesecake recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: from my home to yours. You can use the graham crust or even a chocolate crust using chocolate grahams or Oreo sandwich cookies. (See my Oreo Cheesecake recipe for how to make the Oreo crust.) This recipe produces a creamy and rich cheesecake that will leave people asking for seconds and thirds. I like to serve it with a drizzle of caramel syrup/sauce, a dollop of whipped cream, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. You can even serve it with chocolate sauce, especially if you've made it with a chocolate crust. It's totally up to you!

Ingredients:

Crust-

• 1 ¾ cups of graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tbsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  

Cheesecake-

• 4 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4-5 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy, or a combination of both3 tbsp flour (optional)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
• About 2 tbsp instant coffee (you can add more according to taste)
  
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
  

1. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. To make the crust, stir graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour melted butter into the dry ingredients and mix until all of the crumbs are moist. (Do the same if using Oreo cookies or vanilla wafers.)

2. Turn the ingredients into springform pan and pat an even layer of crumbs over the bottom and about halfway up the sides.

3. Put the pan in the freezer while preheating the oven at 350 degrees F. After preheating the oven, place the springform pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a cooling rack while making the cheesecake.

4. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. To make the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until soft and creamy, about 4 minutes.

5. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat for another 4 minutes or so, until the mixture is light. Beat in the vanilla.

6. Dissolve coffee granules and cinnamon in warm water. Cool; gradually add to cream cheese mixture, mixing until well blended

7. Add the egg one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition.

8. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

9. Turn off mixer, and stir in chocolate chips if using.

10. Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in a roasting pan that is large enough to hold the springform pan with some space around it.

11. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure there is nothing left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan.

12. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into it so the water comes halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

13. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top should be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven and prop the door open. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another 1 hour.

14. After 1 hour, carefully pull the whole setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster pan – be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil- and remove the foil.

15. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature. When it is cool, refrigerate for at least 4 hours (overnight is better) before serving.

Note: The bottom two pictures are the same slice drizzled with caramel syrup and topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of powdered cinnamon. It is delicious!

For a Chocolate Graham Crust, substitute the graham cracker crumbs with chocolate graham crumbs. Or, for an Oreo Crust, use 30 crushed Oreo Cookies and 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) of butter: