If you lived in Utica, you remember Manny’s Cheesecake. By far the best cheesecake in Upstate New York.

manny's cheesecake

The story is sad.  Manny’s burned to the ground in 2011.

manny's burned

Chin up because

1. No one was hurt and

2. You can make Manny’s style cheesecake yourself because Julie posted a “clone” recipe in our book A Taste of Utica which can be found on page 162.

I’ll give you the original recipe, as posted by Julie, but I’ll also give you my slightly healthier and lighter version. Believe me, you’ll love them both.

CNYEats Mannys cheesecake clone2

Manny’s Clone Cheese cake by Julie

CNYEats Mannys cheesecake clone1

  • (3)  8 oz pkgs of cream cheese, room temperature, softened (simply squeeze and knead in your hands before unwrapping to soften)
  • 1 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 3 TBS of flour
  • 16 egg yolks
  • 3/5 cup melted butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp lemon rind/zest
  • Graham cracker crumbs (about 1/4 – 1/3 cup or about 6 crackers crushed)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a mixer, add the cream cheese, sugar, cream and flour. Mix until smooth.  Add yolks one at a time. Continue to mix for about 5 minutes. Add the melted butter, vanilla, salt and lemon rind.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9” spring form pan with butter or shortening then dust the pan with the graham cracker crumbs.  Pour in the filling  and bake for 45 – 55 minutes. Remove when it looks cooked but still just a little jiggly in the middle. Allow to cool at least one hour before topping with your favorite topping (strawberries? cherries? blueberries?).

Joanne’s slightly lighter version of “Cheese cake”

CNYEats Mannys cheesecake clone4

  • 3 cups Greek Style Non Fat Plain yogurt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 TBS flour
  • 2 whole eggs + 4 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch salt
  • zest AND juice of one lemon
  • 2 TBS melted butter
  • 1/3 cup Graham cracker crumbs

Note: I didn’t use any cheese nor cream.  I reduced the egg quantity but still added just a little butter as fat. It IS, after all, a dessert remember.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Grease a 9” or 10” spring form pan with butter then cover with cracker crumbs. Set aside.

In a mixer, combine yogurt, sugar, flour until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time, vanilla, salt, zest and juice of lemon.  Mix for 3 minutes or until smooth.  Stream the melted butter into the mixture and mix for 2 more minutes.

Pour filling into spring form pan.  Place in the oven and immediately reduce heat to 350 F and bake for 50 – 60 minutes.  *The most difficult about making cheese cake is being able to tell when it’s done.  It should look “baked” but still have a slight “jiggle” in the middle.  That jiggle will set, the cheese cake won’t crack and it will still be moist and light.  If you cook it too long, it will become dry.

FOFF Kickin Marinade4

Allow to cool at least 2 hours before putting the topping on of your choice.

*I used pineapple and honey covered fresh blueberries to keep it light.

CNYEats Mannys cheesecake clone3

Next week: Sesame cookies.  We’ve posted a recipe for these before but this one is a tiny bit different. Besides, we like those sesame cookies and can never get enough!

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