Recipe courtesy King Arthur Flour

Never mind the sour cream, farmer’s cheese, cream cheese, water bath, and worrying about a sunken center. The filling for this delicious cheesecake has just four simple ingredients, and the cake bakes in a mere 30 minutes. Now THAT’S easy!

Easy Cheesecake

PREP 12 mins| BAKE 30 mins| TOTAL 1 hr 42 mins

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups (128g) graham cracker crumbs (9 to 10 whole graham crackers, crushed)
• 1/4 cup (28g) confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon, 74g) melted butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 2 cups (454g, 2 large packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup (152g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Select a pie pan whose inside top dimension is at least 9″, and whose height is at least 1 1/4″. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Make the crust by stirring together all of the crust ingredients, mixing until thoroughly combined.
3. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan, making a thicker layer on the bottom than on the sides.
4. Make the filling by mixing together the room-temperature cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla, again mixing until smooth. To avoid beating too much air into the batter, use a mixer set at low-medium speed. To avoid lumps, make sure the cream cheese is softened, and/or at room temperature.