Lemon Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. Cheesecake throughout most of my childhood were the boxed, no bake mixes. At the time, I thought they were to die for. Then, as I got older, I was exposed to REAL cheesecake. One of my mom's co-workers made delicious cakes, and I'll never forget the Valentine's Day when my mom brought one home for my sister & I!

Since then, I've enjoyed making one when I know people will appreciate them. (My husband enjoys them, but due to lactose intolerance, I'm the one eating most of my cheesecake!) This one takes a bit of work with the 3 layers, but I would definitely make it again. It was so light & refreshing!




LEMON CHEESECAKE (Adapted from Chowhound and Food.com)

Crust:
2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (Approximately 2 packages of graham crackers)
6 tablespoons butter; melted
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine crust ingredients thoroughly. Press crust evenly onto bottom and sides of buttered 10 inch springform pan. Bake crust 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Cover pan with aluminum foil.

Filling:
3 8 ounce packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Beat cream cheese until soft. Add sugar, and beat until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in lemon juice, rind, vanilla and lemon extract. Pour into pan with crust, and place pan in a water bath. Bake 50-60 minutes.

Topping:
2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together sour cream and remaining sugar and vanilla. Gently spread sour cream mixture over top of cake. Return to oven and bake 10 more minutes. Turn oven off and cool cheesecake in oven with door propped open for 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven and cool completely on wire rack.

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Yellow gel food coloring (optional)

Combine all glaze ingredients and blend until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened (3 minutes). Chill until cool, but not set. Spread on top of cheesecake.

Chill overnight.

ENJOY!

Cranberry Cheesecake

I recently realized that it's been years since I made a cheesecake. Without a lot of family nearby to help eat it (and with a lactose intolerant husband), a cheesecake can be dangerous for me to have around! There is no way I would be able to let any of it go to waste, so I'd have to eat cheesecake at least once or twice a day until it was gone.

Although I had to work on Thanksgiving, my friends hosted a full turkey dinner the next day so that I wouldn't miss out on the celebration. I quickly jumped on the opportunity to make dessert, and wanted to try something different from my typical honey crunch pecan pie (which I promise to share at some point in the future). I wanted to find a cheesecake recipe that would compliment the meal, and knew that cranberry was the way to go.

I substituted some light ingredients, so the texture wasn't quite as heavy, but it still tasted great! I would suggest more cranberries, though, if you want a stronger cranberry flavor - the Oreo crust competed with the cranberries more than I would have liked, but they do blend together well.



CRANBERRY CHEESECAKE (Adapted from Frankly Entertaining)
Makes 1 - 9 inch Cheesecake

Crust:
3 cups Oreo cookies, crushed
1/2 cup butter, melted

Glaze:
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups cranberries

Cake:
3 - 8oz packages cream cheese (I used 2 light and 1 regular)
1 cup sugar
1 cup light sour cream
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine cookie crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of a 9″ springform pan (& about 1 inch up the sides). Bake for 8 minutes, let cool.

Increase temperature of the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan over med-high heat. Bring to a boil for 1 min. Add cranberries, reduce heat until most of the berries have popped. Press mixture through a sieve or food mill. Reserve liquid. (Discard the solid cranberries)

For the cake, start by mixing cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing between each one. (Be sure to scrape the edges of your bowl regularly).
Add sour cream and vanilla.

Add mixture to cookie crust. Add a few tablespoons of the cranberry liquid and swirl it into the batter with a knife.

Bake for 45 minutes. Be sure to place the pan onto a cookie sheet as small amounts of butter may leak out the bottom.

When the cake is done (very little "jiggle" in the center), leave it in the oven, with the door open, for two hours.

After the cake is completely cool, top it with the rest of the cranberry liquid, and place in the fridge overnight.

ENJOY!