AUNT VI’S CHEESECAKE

Serves 10

IN A DESCRIPTION THAT COULDN’T BE MORE MIDWESTERN IF I TRIED, AUNT VI wasn’t my aunt. She wasn’t even my great-aunt. She was Gramma’s best friend Kathy Humphreys’s aunt. The Humphreyses lived next door to my grandparents for a number of years and were the best of friends. The couples kicked up their heels together, vacationed together, raised children together, and I always felt a bit like an honorary grandchild to Jack and Kathy Humphreys.

So, the title of this recipe should actually be Kathy’s Aunt Vi’s Cheesecake. And apparently the lady could rock a cheesecake like none other. Between the unique crumb crust tasting of the very best buttered toast, to the luxurious topping of whipped cream, once I tried this recipe, I had completed my search for a cheesecake I can make for the rest of my life.

CRUST:

6 ounces/170 g zwieback toasts, or 1 (3½-ounce/100 g) package Holland Rusks (to make about 1½ cups/100 g crumbs)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

4 tablespoons/57 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

FILLING:

2 (8-ounce/225 g) packages full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup/200 g granulated sugar

1 cup/240 g full-fat sour cream

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

TOPPING:

½ cup/120 g heavy whipping cream, chilled

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 350°F/ 180°C. Have ready a 9-inch/ 23 cm round springform pan.

Prepare the crust: In the bowl of a food processor, grind the zwiebacks to fine crumbs (you may need to do this in 2 batches). Add the sugar and salt. Process again for 30 seconds. Add the butter and blend until evenly moistened.

Tip the crust mixture into the pan. Pat the crumbs firmly and evenly across the bottom of the pan and halfway up the sides. Bake until firm and golden, about 8 minutes. Let cool completely. Wipe out the bowl of the food processor with a paper towel.

Prepare the filling: Add the cream cheese to the processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and blend for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and add the sour cream. Blend until smooth. With the motor running, add the eggs, 1 at a time. Scrape down the bowl, add the vanilla, and process until the batter is well blended.

Pour the batter into the cooled crust. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven for 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 1½ hours.

Prepare the topping: In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla together on medium speed until the cream holds firm peaks. Smooth the whipped cream over the cooled cheesecake. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Store any leftovers tightly covered for up to 3 days.

CHEESECAKE, CHICAGO STYLE

As if the battle between Chicago deep dish pizza and New York–style pies wasn’t heated enough, I’d like to play devil’s advocate and discuss cheesecake. Yes, believe it or not, there are both New York cheesecakes, which are better known by name alone, and Chicago-style cheesecakes, which are superior. (By now, we know I’m a Chicagoan. This is my book, and I’m choosing to play that card right now. Hear me out.) The difference between the two styles is subtle but important.

New York–style cakes, such as those made famous by Junior’s and Lindy’s, often include the addition of heavy whipping cream resulting in a dense, thick, satiny filling not too far removed from the texture of cream cheese itself. Very little air gets incorporated into a New York cheesecake. It’s the kind of thing where one small slice can be split between two people, and a couple of rich bites is all you need. It has a place, I will give it that.

But when I’m in a cheesecake mood, I want ultimate indulgence. I want to be able to eat many bites and I don’t want to share. This is where Chicago-style cheesecake comes in. These cakes start with cream cheese, but use sour cream instead of heavy whipping cream, which ups the cultured dairy flavor and balances the richness. The batter is typically whipped a bit, and might even incorporate a few tablespoons of flour, which give the cheesecake a lighter, suedelike texture and a firm, bronzed top and sides.

I grew up with Eli’s, the quintessential Chicago-style cheesecake. It has a shortbread crust and is bare on the sides, its signature look. Chicago restauranteur Eli Schulman first perfected his cheesecake recipe for his steakhouse restaurant in the early 1970s and quickly gained a following. In 1980, the cake debuted at the Taste of Chicago, and it has been a dessert celebrity ever since. It’s important to note I’ve also been told more than once along this Midwest baking research trail that Schulman might have swiped the base of his cheesecake formula from Little Jack’s, a legendary Chicago restaurant that ran from 1905 to 1962 on the city’s west side, and was well known for its cheesecake. But I’m just the messenger here.

There’s another famous Chicago-style cheesecake worth mentioning, and it all started in the 1940s with a woman from Detroit named Evelyn Overton. Inspired by a recipe clipped from a local newspaper, she started a small cheesecake baking business in her basement. For nearly twenty-five years, she supplied cheesecakes to local restaurants.

Once their kids were grown, she and her husband used all their savings to move to Los Angeles and open a business there, called the Cheesecake Factory Bakery. With that success, their son helped them to expand the concept as a restaurant, opening the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills in 1975, and becoming a symbol of the glory that is the American chain restaurant. Today, the star of the show is still that solid Chicago-style cheesecake, with more than three dozen riffs on the original recipe.