Now, I have not baked a cheesecake in five years, but I will share the recipe that helped me pay for college. At the hieght of baking career, I was making and selling 35-40 of these a week. I like a lot of crust, so you may adjust to your liking. The really sad part is, I really am not a big fan of cheesecake. I prefer chocolate cake, especially German chocolate.

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups or 24 ounces of cream cheese, softened.
a) Use low fat cream cheese for my lower fat option.
2. 1-2 cups sugar,  found that 1¼ cups is lightly sweet.
a) Sugar should be added by preferred taste, but no more than 2 cups, and no less than 1 cup.
b) You may substitute an aspartame sweetener for a sugar free option, e.g. Equal. 24 packets = 1 cup.
3. 2 cups cottage cheese, small curd
a) Use low fat cottage cheese for lower fat option.
b) A larger curd can be used, but only when using a food processor.
4. ½ cup all purpose flour
5. 2 tbsp of vanilla extract
a) I actually prefer artificial vanilla extract, because it does not dominate the flavor of the almond extract.
6. 1 tbsp of almond extract
a) Several extracts can be substituted here for a variety of flavors, e.g. coconut, coffee, rum, peach, cherry, banana, or pineapple.
7. ½ tsp salt
8. 2 eggs
9. 1-2 cups milk
a) Milk is not traditionally an ingredient to cheesecake, but it is a key element in my recipe. The milk must be added by sight, and has never been the same amount each time.

Optional:

1. 1 cup cocoa, for a chocolate cheesecake
2. 1 cup chocolate chips. For a chocolate chip cheesecake
3. ½ cup of amaretto for a richer cheesecake
a) When using amaretto cut both the almond extract and milk ingredients in half.
4. ½ cup of crushed and peeled almonds
a) I personally add this to almost all my cheesecakes, but there are some who do not like it.
Crust:
1.  1 cup or 2 sticks un-salted sweet cream butter.
2. 2 packet or 10 full-size or ⅓ cup honey or plain graham crackers, crushed.
3. 1 packet or 10 full-size or ⅓ cup cinnamon graham crackers, crushed.
4. ¼ cup brown or table sugar, depending on color preference of the crust.
5. 1 tsp of cinnamon, or to taste.
Toppings:
1. Any canned pie filling will do. I prefer to use Comstock brand cherry, Blueberry, or strawberry pie filling, with or without the heavy syrup.
2. Toppings are preferential, and I have had orders for anything from coconut shavings, to pineapple slices. Try anything and everything until you find one that is your favorite. Marmalade was surprisingly very good.

Directions:

Crust:
1.  Melt the butter in a saucepan, until butter has clarified.
2. Into a bowl, combine all dry ingredients, mixing well.
3. While still hot, had the melted butter, and stir until all ingredients are covered.
4. Allow to cool, and place a layer of the mixture at the bottom of your pie pan. The thickness of your crust is totally up to you, though thicker the crust the more stable your cheesecake. Make sure that you push some of the crust against the sides of the pan, to create a wall around the cake.
5. Using another pie pan bottom, plate, cup, or fork, push down on your crust to compact it. It is now ready for the cheese cake mixture.
 
Mixture:

1. Combine soften cream cheese, with your extracts in a large, preferably metal, bowl. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes to infuse the cream cheese with the flavor.
2. Add your sugar, salt, and flour, and allow to sit for 5 minutes
3. In a blender, blend you’re your cottage cheese until smooth, and then add it to the other ingredients. Adding a little milk to the blender makes this easier to pour and blend.
4. Using a mixer, blend everything together, adding milk as needed, until smooth. Allow to sit for 20 minutes, and then repeat.
5. Add the eggs. Blend again, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
6. Pour mixer equally into crust filled pan, allowing a little room for cake to rise.
7. Allow mixture to settle in the pans, and then place into a pre-heated 325˚ oven, on the top rack, for 60 minutes, or until center is firm.
8. Turn the oven off, do not remove cheesecake, and allow the cake to cool inside the oven until room temperature.
9. Once cheesecake is at room temperature, place it in the pan into the fridge, to cool over night. Remove the cake from the pan, by flipping over on to a plate and allowing it to smoothly drop out. Turn over onto your serving dish and add topping.

This recipe is designed for use with two 9 inch pie pans, or one large cheesecake pan.