my first cheesecake recipe

By the end of a distinctly un-observant Shavuot we still hadn’t had any traditional cheesy foods – blintzes, cheesecake, cheese borekas … not even pizza! We went to the beach and then attended a barbecue at a neighbour’s place on Tuesday, and the next day went to a different beach.

Part of my cheesecake avoidance was that I couldn’t find a decent recipe that fulfilled my basic recipe wish-list:

• No cream cheese, especially not Philadelphia – it’s so expensive here!
• No other surprise expensive items – like mascarpone or heavy cream
• No crazy egg white quantities – I already have five yolks in the fridge
• No graham cracker crusts – I’ve never had them and don’t intend to start looking for them now
• No bain marie – I just can’t be bothered unless it’s for creme caramel

Anyway, after searching extensively I finally got around to finding the perfect recipe and making the cheesecake. The recipe came from my single Hebrew language cookbook, so it was a first on several levels – first recipe that I followed in Hebrew, first Hebrew cookbook, first time I used the cookbook! It was ridiculously easy, not ridiculously expensive (about 32 shekels for raw edible materials) and very delicious – even the neighbours said so.

I do have a bit of an issue with the base, though: it’s a crushed biscuit and melted butter base, and it’s not crisp, it’s a tiny bit soggy. I’m thinking that if I bake the cake lower in the oven next time it might work out a bit better. If anybody reads this and has a solution I’ll be thrilled to hear it.