Oma's Cheesecake

Most of my posts focus on simple and delicious dinnertime meals – that's pretty much the extent of my time in the kitchen.  But every once in a while I like to try my hand at baking.  Some people have a knack for it, some people don't.  Sometimes I can turn out something edible, and sometimes, well... let's just say I never shared my Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies for a reason.

My grandmother turned 91 this year.  Oma (German for "grandma") used to cook the best German roast beef, dumplings and "curly" cabbage, and she'd always have a homemade dessert.  Crumble kuchen was a specialty, but I always loved her cheesecake.  I remember the first time I had restaurant cheesecake, I was so excited to taste it, thinking it must be just as good.  And I remember the disappoint when I tried it and it just didn't compare.

As Oma got older, her cooking and baking became more infrequent until finally one day she never stepped foot in the kitchen again.  A lot of her recipes have been lost over time, and some of them are in German shorthand that no one can understand. But recently I found her handwritten recipe for Cheese Cake. While it had a little bit of broken English, I was able to figure out most of it, and I decided nostalgically to try my hand at it.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but a couple of hours later, I had a cheesecake that looked just like Oma's!  But how would it taste?  I brought the cheesecake with me this past Easter weekend to have my family taste test it. Everyone had a piece and it got rave reviews!  My dad said it was perfect, and said it tasted just like hers.  Oma tried a piece for herself and she agreed!  Proud moment for me - maybe I can bake after all?

I wanted to make this recipe as close to her original as possible, which meant hunting down a German product called "Zwieback" for the crust.  (Zwieback looks just like Melba toast, so you could probably just use that, or regular graham cracker crust.)  My dad pointed me in the direction of a German import house to find the Zwieback, since they don't carry it at your neighborhood Giant Eagle.  Hansa Import Haus in Ohio City looks nondescript from the outside, but when you walk through the doors you are immersed in the Old World décor, polka music, and shelves and shelves of everything from authentic candies and snacks to cheeses and meats behind the deli counter.  It brought back memories of eating liverwurst soup and rye bread with butter that Oma used to draw diagonal lines through to make it look more fun when we were kids.

Here's what you'll need:

Crust:
34 Zwieback (1 ½ boxes)
1 ½ Tbsp. sugar
2 ½ Tbsp. butter

Filling:
5 eggs (at room temp.)
24 oz. cream cheese (at room temp.)
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla

Frosting:
1 ½ pints sour cream
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Here's how to make it (with my improvisations in italics):

Crust: Crush Zwieback between two wax paper sheets or grind through a meat grinder.  Since the food processor has been invented since this recipe was written, I chose to grind the Zwieback in a food processor.

In a mixing bowl, combine crushed Zwieback,  sugar and butter.  Mix and tab into 9 x 13 baking pan.

Filling: Cream cream cheese with a wooden spoon (or a hand mixer if your arm gets tired).  One at a time, add in the eggs. Then mix in the sugar and vanilla. 

Poor filling over the crust.  Bake in 300-degree oven for 50-60 minutes.  Take from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.  Turn up oven to 475 degrees.
 

Frosting: Mix sour cream with sugar and vanilla.  Spread over the cheesecake.  Bake at 475 degrees for 4-5 minutes.

Let cool and then chill in the refrigerator for at least a few hours – the longer, the better to let it set properly.

What to try next – hmm, maybe the dumplings? 

Have you ever restored an old family recipe?  How did it go?