Easy-Peasy Cheesecake

Ok - you can change the name if you like. But after you make it once you'll see that it fits (like the "Nummylicious Cheese Ball"). My older son and his friend wanted to make cheesecake last week, but none of us are crazy about the traditional recipe that uses 5 blocks of cream cheese. I thought maybe we could find a recipe that was at least AS good, and with luck it would use ingredients we already had in the house. After a short Google search we came up with three possibilities and combined them -- thus was born the following recipe.

Enjoy it - you can thank me later!

Easy-Peasy Cheesecake
Note: this makes a large cheesecake. I use an extra-big pie pan, but a springform pan would probably work well (although you might want to cut the crust back a bit). It would be deeper (and, thus, cheesecake-ier). Let me know if anyone tries it!


Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
Crust: In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add melted butter; stir to combine. Press crumb mixture into a 10-12 inch pie pan and chill for 30 minutes.

Filling:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 c. sour cream
1 tbsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare crust, set aside. In large bowl stir together cream cheese and sugar until soft and creamy; then beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in sour cream and vanilla; blend well. Pour in baked crust.

Bake 25-30 minutes until center jiggles slightly when pan is gently shaken (center will set). Transfer to wire rack. Let cool completely, cover with wax paper and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Cut into wedges and serve. Makes 10-12 servings.