New York Cheesecake

Arnold Reuben, owner of Turf Restaurant at 49th and Broadway in New York City, developed the recipe for New York cheesecake in 1929 after eating a slice of cheese pie at a friend's home.
Ingredients
Crust
- 5 ounces Barnham and Bailey animal crackers or sweet digestive biscuits
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
Cake
- 2 ½ pounds softened cream cheese
- 1 ¾ cups white granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 3 tablespoons flour
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 large whole eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Steps
Crust
- Butter bottom and sides of 10-inch springform pan.
- Crush animal crackers to fine powder. Mix with 3 tablespoons sugar.
- Add to melted butter. Mix with fork until blended.
- Press into bottom and about one third up sides of pan.
- Refrigerate 1 hour.
Cake
- Bring all ingredients to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 475°F.
- Mix sugar, flour and cornstarch.
- Beat cream cheese with sugar mix, zest and vanilla with wooden spoon until smooth. Do not overbeat.
- Add whole eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating lightly after each. Do not overbeat, or cheesecake cracks.
- Stir in cream gently.
- Pour into pan. Place pan on cookie sheet to catch leaks.
- Bake at 475°F, 15 minutes.
- Lower heat to 225°F. Bake 1 hour.
- Raise heat to 250°F. Bake about 15 more minutes.
- Refrigerate immediately at least 1 hour, covered with cloth (on bottom) and cookie sheet, until condensation stops forming. Do not cover with plastic wrap right away; condensation drips onto cake.
Notes from the original
- You may substitute lemon juice for vanilla.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:New York Cheesecake” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-20, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. New York cheesecake 2.jpg by EvanProdromou, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






