New York Style Cheesecake

Posted on by Marc Gottlieb

The Crust

So while the cheese situation was under control, the next problem I faced was a graham cracker crust. Graham crackers are honey-sweetened biscuits made with graham wheat, which is like whole wheat flour with wheat bran blended back in.

Uh, yeah, okay.

So they have tea biscuits here that they insist on calling “petty-bear” which are really petit beurre or ‘little butter’ biscuits. It’s pretty much the one-size-fits-all sweet biscuit/cracker they have. One sleeve is 250gr. I dumped that into my food processor, and then I added a quarter cup of date honey, which is called silan in Hebrew.

I pulsed it until, et voilà, I had a crumb that looked (color) and smelled (honey and toasty) exactly like graham crackers. I could have thrown in a pinch of cinnamon, but it really didn’t need it. And, with the stickiness of the silan, I didn’t need to add any additional fat to the crust.

Boo-yah.

I lined the bottom of my dairy springform pan with parchment paper and pressed the crumb into the bottom.

There was only one component left to make, and that was the egg mixture to bring it all together.

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22 thoughts on “New York Style Cheesecake”

  2. As a founding member of the Lucky Elite Testers Association (LETA), I can personally testify to the amazingness that is this confection. Seriously, the BEST cheesecake I have ever eaten.

    1. Someone should add that to NBN's list of great reasons to live in Neve Daniel: Marc's taste tester!

  4. I never would have thought to add silan to the biscuits! Yes, just about every (American) recipe for cheesecake… calls for the graham crackers. Your crust even looks like the real thing. Thanks for providing us with great ideas to cook/bake our good old favorites while meriting living here!

  5. Being a cheesecake snob (like most Shavuot-observant homemakers) and a newcomer to the LETA, I was a little skeptical. (I know, I know… it's Marc and all… but cheesecake is sacrosanct.) Verdict: It was pretty much "to die for." And the real proof: the Dearly Beloved (who never likes anybody's cheesecake but mine) said that it was nearly perfect — and cheesecake for a third of the price makes it even more delicious! We may just be able to afford our rent payment next Sivan…

  6. Being a cheesecake snob (like most Shavuot-observant homemakers) and a newcomer to the LETA, I was a little skeptical. (I know, I know… it's Marc and all… but cheesecake is sacrosanct.) Verdict: It was pretty much "to die for." And the real proof: the Dearly Beloved (who never likes anybody's cheesecake but mine) said that it was nearly perfect — and cheesecake for a third of the price makes it even more delicious! We may just be able to afford our rent payment next Sivan…

  8. That last was a typo and got commented when I was trying to delete. Worked as a comment, I guess. The real one: my NY recipe uses a shortbread crust. Much nicer than graham cracker or cookies and you just need flour, butter, sugar, so you're not depending on a US product. Can I email the recipe to you?

    1. You're right about the pastry, but the convention is graham cracker crust. Maybe it's a Jewish thing because short pastry used to be made with lard.

      (Between you and me, it isn't really about the crust now, is it? ;-) )

  9. Hey Marc, I tried the "New York style cheesecake" that was in the Gad recipe book they had at the Makolet….did u see it? I think it's pretty similar….will let you know how it came out….and maybe I'll have to have a piece of yours for comparison….if there's any left!

  10. The silan tip was pure genius. It worked beautifully (different cheesecake, same concept). Thank you!

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