Recipe(tried): Trader Joe's Cheesecake (copycat recipe)

CREAMY BAKED CHEESECAKE (LIKE TAHOE JOE'S)

Lisa: "Hubby and I love cheesecake. One of our favorites is from a restaurant called Tahoe Joe's. It's a creamy cheesecake, not a New York style and it's really tall with a sour cream topping and mounds of whipped cream. I found a recipe in a cookbook a few years ago and thought it would be similar. Turns out that it is fairly close and hubby loves it! He requested it for his birthday dessert.

I found this yummy recipe in an Eagle Brand $1 cookbook from Target!"

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup (2/3 stick) butter, melted
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 (8 oz) container sour cream, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Combine crumbs, sugar and butter; press firmly on bottom of ungreased 9-inch springform pan.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add eggs and lemon juice; mix well. Pour into prepared crust.

Bake 50-55 minutes or until set. Remove from oven; top with sour cream. Bake 5 minutes longer. Cool, then refrigerate. Store covered in refrigerator.

To make it taller and more impressive, here are the changes I make:
- I double the crust recipe.
- I make 1 1/2 times the batter recipe.
- I prepare 1 1/2 times the sour cream and sweeten it to taste with sugar.
- Serve it with a large mound of homemade sweetened whipped cream!

Adapted from Eagle Brand
Source: Blog: Stop and Smell the Chocolates by Lisa Marie Watson