Mandarin Orange Cheesecake (Cheesecake Recipes)

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Step 6:

Then, drizzle in the melted ****er, about 1 tbsp at a time, and mix it with a fork at first, then your hands.

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Step 7:

You'll know the crust is well mixed when you can take a handful of it, make a tight fist, and end up with a well-formed clump. It should crumble slightly when you break the clump in half. Pour it out of your work bowl and into the springform pan, pack it down tightly and evenly, and place in the 300 degree oven for 10 minutes. This will help firm up the crust and prevent too much batter from soaking into it later.

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Step 8:

Now, to start on the cake itself. Begin by preparing and measuring out all of your ingredients (this is good practice for any recipe, as you won't need to stop in the middle of a step to measure things or wash measuring devices, plus you'll know before you begin if you're missing anything).

Here we see, clockwise from the top, the cream cheese (already cubed), three eggs in the small work bowl (lightly whisked together), food coloring (red and yellow), 2 tsp of vanilla extract, the orange zest, 3 tbsp OJ concentrate, 1-3/4 cups sour cream, and 1 cup sugar in the middle.

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Step 9:

To zest an orange, you want to lightly sc**** off with a grater the outermost layer of skin. This layer has lots of citrus oils in it, and will add a lot of orange flavor to the cake, as well as the nice appearance of little orangey bits. Just sc**** it over your grater with moderate pressure, not too hard, because you don't want to grate off any of the pulpy white stuff under the skin. The orange won't last long without its skin, by the way, so you should eat it soon.

Also, the easiest way to measure out the 1-3/4 cups of sour cream, is to take a 2 cup package, reserve 1/4 cup of it, and dump the rest into a bowl. Put the 1/4 cup back, and save it for a baked potato or taco or something.

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Step 10: Now, the first step is to pour the 1 cup of sugar over your cream cheese, and mix it in with your hand mixer. You'll get the most even distribution if you mix together the cream cheese a bit first, then add the sugar about 1/4 cup at a time. Don't forget to sc**** down your mixer and the sides of the bowl occasionally.