Food Photo Friday - Early Edition - Cranberry Cheesecake

I'll do a lot of things for you, my readers.

Cutting into a freshly made cheesecake before Shavuos isn't one of them, so you'll pardon the less than stellar photos.

I will, however, post Food Photo Friday on a Wednesday, to give you all a chance to share the yum.

For many years I made two cheesecakes: the classic fluffy cheesecake with the world's best graham crust that my mother always made, and one "experimental" cheesecake. Chocolate. Peanut Butter. And others (leave it at that, OK....). But once I perfected my Cranberry Cheesecake, there would be no more experimentation. In my opinion, the tangy "bite" of the fresh cranberries, lends the perfect balance to the sweet, dense creaminess of this (2 lbs. [!!!] of cream cheese) cake.

So off I go each year and purchase more cream cheese than should be allowable by law.

This is not even ALL of it - since aside from 2 cheesecakes, I make a sweet dairy noodle kugel.

Then there's the hunt for the ever elusive Cholov Yisroel sweetened condensed milk.... (they call it "cream" here.... just to be "heimishe chic")

What emerges after a fair amount of whipping and folding is my most delicious cranberry cheesecake. (recipe follows)

For The Crust:
1 1/2 cups cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (about 24 squares)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

For The Filling:
4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk or one jar of the "fancy heimishe stuff" shown above
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 large eggs (since the heimishe stuff is 4 oz. smaller, I compensated with extra large eggs)

1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

Sugared cranberries and orange peel strips, optional

Instructions:
In a bowl, combine cinnamon graham cracker crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom and slightly up the sides of a greased 9-inch springform pan; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and milk until smooth. Beat in lemon juice until smooth. Add eggs and sugar; beat on low speed just until combined. Fold in cranberries. Pour over the crust.

Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees F (160 C) for 60-70 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove sides of pan. Garnish with sugared cranberries and orange peel if desired.