Is the Baked New York Style Cheesecake Recipe Best?

Looking for shortcuts in the kitchen is a time-honored tradition. Almost everyone, whether they are a rookie cook or a lifelong kitchen wizard, wants at some point to find a better, quicker way to get the results they're looking for. The baked New York style cheesecake recipe draws more than its share of shortcut seekers, for two main reasons.

First off is the inherent simplicity of the New York cheesecake recipe. It consists of a few ingredients held in careful balance and cooked carefully. While the end result is a marvel of smooth deliciousness, getting there can become a bit of a boring trip once you've done it 10 or 20 times. The natural human urge to seek variety takes over, and the next thing you know you're off in the recipe wilderness.

At the opposite end is the sometimes-temperamental nature of the baked cheesecake recipe. Anyone who's made the recipe a few times has run across one of the two most common problems with it: a cheesecake that "falls" into a flat disk of cheesy chewiness or one that cracks to such an extent that it looks like it's been hit with a hammer. Having this happen a couple of times can send anyone in search of a more bulletproof way to make their favorite all-American dessert.

That's where the "no-bake" or "icebox" cheesecake recipe frequently comes into play. Most frequently made with some sort of gelatin to hold it together, the unbaked cheesecake is a dessert that's been around almost as long as the original baked New York style cheesecake recipe has been made.

If you must try it, at least don't spend a lot of money on the ingredients. The no-bake recipe is definitely one of those frequent cases where taking a shortcut in preparation produces less than stellar results. You'll end up with something that looks remarkably like a cheesecake, but has a waxy mouth feel and is completely lacking in that mellow, creamy texture and delicate taste so sought after.