I’ve made cheesecake quite a few times… but it has never been as super creamy as the ones at the Cheesecake Factory which has always driven me a little nuts. I adore super creamy cheesecake and I was determined to try and make something just like theirs – but homemade. I scoured around on the internet and found a few resources to help me achieve the glorious smooth and creamy texture I was seeking. The instructions I found totally nailed it – it was all in the baking time!
I also turned this into a cheesecake with a coconut flavored crust purely by accident. I didn’t have any butter left (unbelievable, I know) but I DID have coconut oil (which I use for making popcorn). I ended up replacing the butter with coconut oil, which surprisingly enough, created a really delicious crust.
Using a tall, straight glass helped me to make an even crust, something I have also messed up in the past…
This is pretty easy to whip up, you just need a little patience with your baking time. Also – don’t plan on eating this the same day you make it. It needs time to chill completely before serving. I personally like it a little bit at room temperature.
This link on Cooking Stack Exchange helped me immensely with my creamy cheesecake needs.
- 15 graham crackers, crushed
- 1/4 white sugar
- 5 tablespoons coconut oil
- 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- Leave your eggs, cream cheese and sour cream out for awhile before you start baking so everything is at room temperature. The items will be easier to blend together, helping you to mix it less and in turn helping you to not incorporate as much air into your cheesecake. This is super important!
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare your spring form pan with two layers of aluminum foil wrapped around the edges.
- Crush your graham crackers. I did it the easy way and stuck 'em into our Vitamix blender. Done in about 20 seconds. Dump the crackers into your spring form pan. Add sugar and mix well. Then add in coconut oil and mix until blended. Use a glass to evenly spread out the graham cracker mixture so it goes halfway up the pan and it even all around. Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes.
- Mix together cream cheese and sugar. Blend in your milk and then your eggs, one at a time. Mix until just incorporated. Add in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Don't overmix! Pour into your prepared crust.
- Get a baking pan large enough to hold your spring form pan - you will be placing the cheesecake into this one! Place the baking pan with the cheesecake inside it into the oven. Fill up the baking pan with hot water until it is halfway up the spring form pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Turn the oven off and crack the oven door open. Let the cheesecake rest inside the oven like this for 30 minutes.
- After the rest, carefully close the oven door and turn the oven back on to 300 degrees. Bake for another 30-40 minutes (I went 40 minutes myself).
- Turn the oven off and let the cheesecake rest in the oven overnight (or 5-6 hours). Remove from oven and water bath. Remove foil. Chill until ready for serving.
I love using coconut oil in pie crusts. My favorite new way is in an avocado cheesecake. It’s so tropical!
Oh! That sounds excellent! The only avocado dessert based thing I have tried is frozen yogurt, so I’m curious how avocado cheesecake would taste. I loved the coconut oil in the crust, it was a happy forced-accident!
love the tip about using a glass to get the nice smooth crust, mine always looks super messy haha
I always made too thick crusts until I started doing that!
Mmmm, this looks good. I love coconut, so this crust is callin ma NAME!
Hi Brandon – Oh man, it’s good with the coconut crust. I almost don’t want to do “regular” graham cracker crust anymore!