This was a bountiful year for my Meyer lemon tree. I ended up with over 300 lemons! Awesome--right? But what exactly does one person do with 300+ lemons? Well, they became part of my Christmas gift to friends and neighbors, along with some homemade limoncello. That, however, left me with more than I could use in my normal, everyday cooking. Because of that, lemon has been the flavor of the month. Everything lemon has been my mantra. Today, cheesecake is getting a lemon twist. Who doesn't like cheesecake? It's a rich, decadent treat that most of us reserve for special occasions. Unless you have 200 lemons you are trying to use...
So, lemon cheesecake it is! I made mine with a ginger snap crust, but if you're more of a traditionalist, go ahead and use graham crackers. Here's what you'll need:
- 1 ¼ c graham cracker crumbs (15 squares) or 1 box ginger snaps, ground into crumbs
- 4 TBL melted butter
- 2 TBL sugar
- 5 8 oz pkg cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 ¾ c sugar
- ¼ c sour cream, or Greek yogurt
- 5 TBL flour
- 3 TBL Meyer lemon zest
- 1/2 C fresh Meyer lemon juice
- ¼ tsp salt
- 5 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix graham cracker or ginger snap crumbs, butter and 2 TBL sugar and press firmly into bottom of 9” springform pan. I like to use the bottom of a glass to press the crumbs into a compact layer. I should also mention here that I decided to make several small cakes instead of a 9" cake. My only recommendation is that if you decide to do that, make sure that all the cakes are the same size. I made my life much more difficult by using 2 different sizes. I had to use 2 ovens and vary the cooking time for each because of the size difference. The baking time I am using here is for a 9" cake. Bake 10 minutes. Cool.
After the crusts have been removed from the oven, heat the oven to 475 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat the room temperature cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon peel, lemon juice, salt, and 2 of the eggs until smooth. Continue beating and add the additional eggs and yolks, one at a time, incorporating well. Blend in sour cream or Greek yogurt on low speed. Pour into pan.
Bake 15 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees. Bake one more hour, turn oven off and leave cake in 15 more minutes. The cake should be golden around the edges and set in the middle. Take out of oven and cool completely.
After the cheesecake has cooled completely, remove it from the pan. At this point it is ready to serve or it can be frozen. Store it covered in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
Lynn
Just in case you were wondering what 300 lemons looks like...
MEYER LEMON CHEESECAKE
- 1 ¼ c graham cracker crumbs (15 squares) or 1 box Ginger Snaps
- 4 TBL melted butter
- 2 TBL sugar
- 5 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
- 1 ¾ c sugar
- ¼ c sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 5 TBL flour
- 3 TBL grated lemon peel
- 1/2 C fresh Meyer lemon juice
- ¼ tsp salt
- 5 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix crumbs, butter and 2 TBL sugar and press firmly into bottom of 9” springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool. Heat oven to 475 degrees. Beat cream cheese, sugar flour, lemon peel, juice, salt and 2 of the eggs in large bowl until smooth. Continue beating and add eggs and yolks one at a time. Blend in sour cream or Greek yogurt on low speed. Pour into pan. Bake 15 minutes the reduce temperature to 200 degrees. Bake one more hour, turn oven off and leave cake in 15 more minutes. Take out of oven and cool completely, cover and refrigerate. Can be frozen for 3 weeks. Good in refrigerator for 10 days.
