perfect for the lazy lover of alliteration

If you look back through my post titles, the first thing you'll probably note is that they're absolutely useless if you're trying to figure out the recipe being featured (I know this from frustrating personal experience). The second thing you might notice is that I adore alliteration.


Post titles, recipe names, my random comments describing the posts and recipes of others--I like to make use of this totally titillating tool as often as possible. That said, when I learned that today was National Cherry Cheesecake Day (thanks, Louise!), I instantly became giddy. Yes, although I don't really care for cheesecake (or non-homemade cherry pie filling, but does anyone?)(no offense if you do--more power to ya), I know some people who are pretty fond of the creamy treat, so I whipped one up.


Don't you just love the look of bold red on creamy white? I do. Except when it's red ink all over my calculus homework back in high school. My beloved teacher (a major Civil War buff) always said our papers looked like the Battle of Antietam. Doh.

My goodness, the sacrifices I make for the sake of alliteration. But it's a deserving device, wouldn't you say?

Cheery Cherry Cheesecake
(based on this recipe)
Crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake:
2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sour cream

1 (15 oz) can cherry pie filling (optional)

Make the crust:
Butter a 9-inch springform pan that has sides that are at least 2 3/4 inches high.
Stir the crumbs, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Put the pan in the fridge while you preheat the oven.

Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Make the cheesecake:
Beat the cream cheese at medium speed until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition. Slowly beat in the sour cream. Scrape the batter into the springform pan. Put the springform pan on a roasting pan, place it in the oven, and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will 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 oven door open. Allow the cheesecake to sit in the water bath for another hour.
After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven and lift the springform pan out of the roaster. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.
When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.
Before slicing and serving, pour cherry pie filling or whatever fruit topping floats your boat over the cake.