• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 5 (8ounce) packages cream cheese, softened must be Philadelphia if you can
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 eggs

1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature (this helps to prevent cracking).
2. MIX crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar and butter;.
3. press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. (using a hamburger press handle works great for this!).
4. Bake at 325°F for 10 minutes.
5. MIX cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
6. Blend in sour cream. mix well
7. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition, just until blended. Do not over mix!
8. Pour over crust.
9. Run a knife through to remove any air bubbles.
10. BAKE 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until center is almost set. 325 °F for a silver springform pan 300 °F if using a dark nonstick pan
11. Crack oven door open slightly and allow cheesecake to temper for about 30 minutes.
12. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake;.
13. Remove rim of pan.
14. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. (This is a must!).
15. Top with cherry pie filling and garnish, if desired.
16. Variation, 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam can be dropped in spoonfuls over the batter and cut through the batter several times for marble effect before baking.
17. Variation #2 Cook above recipe and add 10 minutes before bake time ends. Mix 1 cup sour cream, 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla together and carefully spread over cheesecake and bake 10 minutes longer. When serving, top with mixed berries!
18. Variation #3 Before serving, melt caramels in the microwave until smooth, stir in chopped pecans in desired and spoon on top of each slice.
19. Variation #4 Before serving, Crush us peanut butter cups press lightly into top of cheescake and drizzle with chocolate syrup.
20. Variation #5 Before serving, Cut cheesecake into cubes if desired, and drizzle with melted chocolate. Refrigerate for chocolate to harden

I love cheesecake and make many different varieties, but this is my basic go to recipe. There are many variations around but this is the one I like best.