Mary Kay’s Magically Delicious Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and cornstarch just until mixed.

Stir in the sour cream (vanilla yogurt works well, too) until mixture is well blended. Add the chocolate chips if you’ve opted for them and just make sure they’re pretty evenly distributed.

Pour mixture into prepared crusts and bake, side-by-side, for 45 minutes. Allow to cool in the oven for 3 hours, with the oven door open. (That said, I have never, ever done that. I just take them out and let them cool on the countertop. I also often pop them in the freezer to make them cool faster because we’re all impatient over here.)

Chill before serving.

If you make this without the chocolate chips, it’s really good with just some yummy strawberry preserves dolloped on top, but plain is most excellent, too.

The cheesecakes will puff up a bit while baking, but settle again while cooling. They’ll brown nicely on top and we like to eat it straight out of the pan. Like I said, we’re impatient.