The Best Lemon Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust: 2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (I use my blender/processor)

1 stick butter, melted
3 T. sugar
1/2 tea. salt

Cheesecake: 4 - 8 oz. sticks of cream cheese, room temp.

1 1/4 c. sugar
4 eggs, room temp.
3/4 c. heavy cream
zest of 3 lemons
1 T. vanilla

Toppings (optional): Any topping would be good on this!

2 oz. of cream cheese room temp.

2 T. heavy cream (leftover from cheesecake) & eat!
sugar to taste - approx. 2 T.
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
3 T. berry or other preserves and sugar to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the bottom outside half of a 9” springform pan with tinfoil...you’ll cook the cheese-
cake in a water bath and this will prevent water leaking into the pan.

2. Mix the crust ingredients and press into the bottom of the springform pan and about 1” up the sides. Bake for 7 minutes
and cool on a wire wrack. Begin boiling a pot of water for the water bath.

3. In your mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the sugar and lemon zest, and mix until the sugar is moist about 1
minute. Add in the cream cheese and cream until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the edges of the bowl as
necessary with each one. Add heavy cream and vanilla, and mix until smooth.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust.

5. Place a large pan (I use a cookie sheet) in the oven, and place the springform in the pan. Carefully pour boiling water
into the large pan, about 1/2” of water or just under the edges of the cookie sheet a 1/4” or so.

6. Bake 48 - 55 minutes. The edges should look set, but the center will still have some jiggle. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look
done in the center! Turn off the heat, close the oven door, and let the cheesecake rest in the oven with the door closed
for one hour. After an hour, take the cheesecake out of the water bath and put it on a wire rack to cool completely...a
couple of hours. Stick the cheesecake in the fridge overnight, or at least 4-5 hours. When it’s cool, run a thin knife around
the edges of the springform pan carefully loosening it. Carefully take it out of the pan (use a knife or thin spatula to loosen
the bottom), and move it onto the platter.

7. To make the topping, cream the cream cheese, and add the cream until it is thinned, but not too thin to be runny. Add
the sugar, and beat for 1 minute or so until it is slightly stiff and won’t run on the top of the cheesecake. Add more cream/
sugar to taste. Spread the mixture on the cheesecake. Heat the berries and preserves in a pan on the stove on medium
heat and add sugar to taste. Stir and let the berries cook down, add a tiny bit of water if using fresh berries. When fin-
ished, strain the extra liquid out, let them cool completely, and place them on the cheesecake.