Lemon Cheesecake

Assalamualaikum!

When I am at home, I have to keep my desserts simple because my mom would eat them after lunch and dinner, while my dad would savour them during the night when he is focusing on his work. My parents grew up with kuih lapis, kasui and akok so fancy and hard-to-pronounce desserts have to wait.However, one thing for sure is that my parents LOVE cheesecakes. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Don't we all? So I made lemon cheesecake the other day…and it tasted heavenly! I am the kind of person who would stick to a recipe that I love, but I’ll certainly modify it to my liking! I used my Classic New York Cheesecake Recipe (here) and then add some lemon elements here and there to make this lovely lemon goodness. 

I love lemon cheesecake! Cheesecakes are of course rich and indulgent but having a hint of citrus definitely brings the creaminess down a couple notches. I've always seen a lot of cheesecakes with high crusts…meh..why not give it a shot?

Lemon Cheesecake

1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers** (2 ½ ±cup for high crust)

¼   cup of melted butter** (1/2 ±cup for high crust)

1 cup sugar

1 kg of cream cheese (4 packages)

½  cup sour cream

½ lemon juice 

3 tablespoon of lemon rind (About 2-3 lemons)

1 tablespoon vanilla

4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark nonstick spring form)
2. Spray the insides of a 9-inch springform. Set aside
3. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers and melted butter together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
4. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until well combined.
6. Add in the sour cream, lemon rind, lemon juice and vanilla, continue mixing.
7. Add in the eggs into the mixture. One at a time.
8. Pour the mixture on to the baked crust and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
9. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake rest in the oven for another hour with the oven door slightly ajar.
10. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Tips:

1. This cheesecake would not be fully set. The sides would be firmer but the middle part would still be slightly jiggly. It will fully set once you put it in the fridge.So once the sides starts to firm up turn off the heat.
2. The reason why you don't take the cheesecake out straight away is to avoid the cheescake from cracking. There would be instances where it will crack, but then again..you could always cover it with candied lemons or lemon curd.
3. When making a high crusted cheesecake, keep in mind that sometimes you may need more graham crackers and butter. Don’t be scared to add more butter if the crust seems a bit dry. Make sure you have extra on the side!To be honest, I rarely follow the measurements to make the crust..some people like a lot of it some don't. So adjust the thickness and amount of crust to your liking. 
4. Mix the ingredenits for the sake of mixing. DON'T OVER MIX the batter. Like other kinds of cakes, there are serious concequences to overbeating the batter. CHeesecakes are not meant to rise! Overbeating the batter would trap too much air in the cheesecake. Thus, causing the cheesecake to overflow when you bake it as the trapped air make its way out.SO once the ingredients are well blended.Stop.
5. Be creative. Compare this recipe with my Classic New York Cheesecake recipe. Not much difference really.So don't be scared to modify a recipe. Add some blueberries to make a blueberry cheesecake blueberry lemon cheesecake. Swirl in some Nutella, strawberry puree..Go crazy!

I should make some coffee cheesecake for mommy soon. I know she’ll love it.She is definitely blaming me for any weight gain and I should blame her as well….thanks ma for the rendang, laksa, singgang dan lain-lain.*sigh*

Till then, Wasalam.

Love,

Sofhan Hasni