How many of you ever look up all the random “holidays” that our country has decided to celebrate throughout the year? Well, in anticipation for my next post I looked up some and came to find that July 30th is National Cheesecake Day! Umm, YES please!
Have you ever gone through Sam’s or Costco and seen the mini cheesecake bites? And subsequently, really wanted to buy them but felt they were too expensive or too much of a guilty pleasure? I definitely have! Growing up my mom would always make cheesecake for special occasions and in my opinion its one of the best out there! (Maybe I’m biased!)
My mom is now retired, but while she was working, she was a director of transportation for a school district. She had about 25 drivers that reported to her. Every year my mom would give them gifts at Christmas and one year she decided we would make TWENTY FIVE, yes 25, of these cheesecakes! We would bake a few each night and then hand deliver them to each driver’s house individually! I’m not sure her drivers understood the dedication and care she put into her job! All this to say I still really enjoy this cheesecake recipe. I have had many friends and new family members fall in love with it too!
Now, a couple months ago, my husband and I wanted to buy those cheesecake bites at Sam’s. However, we decided we could use my mom’s recipe and freeze them ourselves! So instead of using a spring-form pan, we used a 15″ x 10″ glass baking dish. After they had cooled, I cut them into little squares. We then put a small piece of parchment paper between each piece and put them in an air-tight container. And so we wouldn’t eat them all at once, we then put them into the freezer.
So here’s the recipe!
What silly “holiday” is your favorite to celebrate? Let me know I’d love to hear about some more!
Crust:
- 1¼ cups graham cracker crumbs, from 10 whole crackers
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Cheesecake Filling:
- 16 ounces (2 8-oz. packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1½ tablespoons all purpose flour
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3 large eggs
- 2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon packed freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅛ teaspoon salt