Get ready to tantalize your taste buds and leave everyone craving more! This New York style cheesecake strikes the perfect balance, boasting a dense yet creamy texture, crowned with a generous layer of vibrant cherry pie filling or a delectable homemade cherry sauce. But the secret lies in the crust. Trust me on this one! I'm opting for a buttery shortbread crust that elevates the entire dessert.
No fancy chef skills are needed; you can recreate this iconic NYC bakery dessert at home. Below the recipe, you will find some additional tips for mastering this classic dessert in your kitchen.
Recipe Source: Adapted family cheesecake recipe I received from my mother-in-law. Original source unknown. You have probably noticed that I get a lot of my recipes from her. She has so many of our family favorites!
Savor a dense New York style cheesecake with a velvety filling and a sweet burst of cherry topping.
Crust Ingredients
Filling Ingredients
Topping
I like cherry pie filling from a can. So I often use that for the topping. Sometimes I make the topping from scratch with the following ingredients
Crust
Filling
Bake
Wrap and Chill
Cherry Topping
Makes 12 slices.
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Below you will find tips and tricks to help achieve the best homemade cherry cheesecake.
Much better than the no bake cheesecake recipes, in my opinion.
I also love that this recipe does not contain sour cream. I don't know if it is true, but I think sour cream can make the cheesecake crack while cooling.
Cream cheese – it is important to use cream cheese at room temperature so that the cheesecake filling will mix up nicely and be smooth. Cold cream cheese will cause the filling to be chunky. You also want to use full fat cream cheese for the best result and not the reduced fat option.
Lemon zest – contains essential oils and more lemon flavor without being too tart. Avoid adding the bitter pith (the white part underneath the peel).
Stand mixer or hand mixer
Pastry blender or fork
Lining the bottom of the springform pan with parchment paper makes it easier to remove the cheesecake from the pan.
Press the crust into the pan with the back of a floured spoon or using the bottom of a floured measuring cup. Pressing with your fingers also works well. This is the trickiest and hardest part of the whole recipe. Don't get frustrated. I find using floured fingers works best. It is hard because the crust doesn't always want to press out on the parchment paper. It will work. I promise! Just do your best to cover the bottom of the pan. It doesn't have to be perfect.
If you don’t have a pastry blender, you can cut in the butter with a fork by squishing the butter through the fork tines.
If you love crust, like I do, you can double the crust to have a thicker bottom crust and a higher crust on the sides.
Once the cheesecake is cool you will want to wrap it for chilling. lace the cheesecake (still on the pan bottom) on a plate. Then place a piece of parchment paper on top of the cheesecake, and lastly cover it with plastic wrap. The parchment paper will help so the top of the cheesecake doesn't stick to the plastic. Some of the cheesecake will stick to the parchment paper, but it will be minimal when you peel it off the next day. It will be fine since you will cover up the top with cherries anyway.
It is also normal for the bottom of the springform pan to feel greasy. The butter from the crust often leaks out a little bit when back and gets under the pan. That is why you need to make sure you make the cheesecake on a secondary pan or cookie sheet. Once the cheesecake is well chilled you can pull up on the edges of the paperment paper and lift up the entire cheesecake. Then just peel the paper off the bottom and it will look beautiful in one piece.
Chill the cheesecake thoroughly to get a dense but smooth texture.
You can use graham cracker crust if you prefer.
You could also make a cookie crust for the cherry cheesecake recipe, such as Oreo or sandwich cookies. Chocolate and cherry would be a good combination.
As noted above, using canned cherry pie filling makes for an easy cherry cheesecake recipe. I like the Duncan Hines Country Cherry version. One 21-ounce can is plenty to cover the top of the dessert.
Store in the refrigerator.
Cheesecake slices without topping can also be frozen. Wrap individual slices in plastic wrap and then store them inside a Ziploc freezer bag.
Review
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