Lemon Flavored Cheesecake

Cheesecake, This is my daughter's favorite dessert. All her friends say she is obsessed with Cheesecake. Almost every alternate week I make cheesecake with different flavors. One of my close friend was asking me to open a Cheesecake bakery looking at the frequency of cheesecake making at my place . Solves both the problems daughter's obsession and selling the delicious cheesecake :). May be I can think of that when I retire :)

Y'day made lemon flavored cheesecake. Thanks to Ina garten for this recipe. I did few variations. Here is my version.



Ingredients:

Filling:

1 lb Cream cheese
3 large eggs ( I use organic brown eggs)
3/4 cup sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp lemon zest
2tbsp sour cream

Crust

20 graham crackers
6tbsp melted butter
1tbsp sugar

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 350 degree F

Crust:

Grease the springform pan with butter.

Crush graham crackers and sugar in a mixer . (You can crush the crackers even with hand. ) I use mixer since it is easy and makes fine crust. Now add melted butter to the cracker mixture and mix well with a spoon/spatula. Now pour the mixture into 9 inch springform pan. With your hands press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and 1 inch up to the side.
Bake for 8 mts and cool to room temperature.


Filling:

In a bowl add cream cheese, sugar and beat with hand mixer or stand mixer until light and fluffy. (I used 3 speed in my hand mixer). Reduce the speed and add eggs one at a time. Add sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest while beating on low speed. Scrape the mixture using spatula as necessary.
Mix thoroughly and pour into the crust.

Bake for 15mts at 350 degree F . Reduce the oven temperature to 225 degree F and bake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and open the doors wide .( When you look at the cake it will not be completely set in the center. Don't worry, that is how it is supposed to look like. )

Let the cake sit in the oven for 30 mts doors wide opened. Take the cake out of the oven and let it sit for 2 to 3 hrs until it is cooled completely. Cover it and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the cake from the pan:

This is the tricky part. Remove the cake from refrigerate keep it aside for 10 mts. Take a knife and dip in the warm water and wipe it with a clean cloth. Use the knife trace around the inside of the pan and the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it. While doing this make sure your knife perpendicular to the bottom. Open the springform ring as wide as you can and remove without breaking the sides of the cheesecake.

Delicious cheesecake is ready to be served. You can drizzle chocolate syrup or garnish with fruits or just serve as it is. Whichever way it will melt in your mouth.

Tip:. Turn off the heat when the center's still loose and let cool in the oven. This will avoid the cracks in the cheesecake.