Prep time : 45 minutes Cook time: 2 hours 45 minutes Chilling time: 8 hours
Serves: 10 to 12
This is the best mash up of two of my favorite desserts, lemon meringue pie and cheesecake. After all cheesecake is a pie (may be controversial)
Cheesecake is a labor of love, it takes patience and time, but I think this cheesecake recipe will help you so much through the process. Our cheesecake filling is fluffy, creamy and tangy. Our crust is buttery, crumbly and compliments the cheesecake so beautifully.
Follow along to our Youtube video below
Here are some tips for the best cheesecake
Block cream cheese is best
I would recommend using block cream cheese opposed to whipped. The block cream cheese is a creamier and dense cream cheese, unlike the whipped kind. The whipped cream cheese contains lactic acid which means there is more water incorporated.
Bring your refrigerated ingredients to room temperature
Make sure your eggs, butter, cream cheese, sour cream and heavy cream are all at room temp. This allows all your ingredients to come together effortlessly, creating the most delicious and luscious cheesecake!
Water Bath is a must, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise
This is a very important step for your cheesecake and super simple. A water bath is just a pan of hot water that will surround your springform pan. Some recipes say to do it some don’t, I recommend doing so. This will allow your cheesecake the ability to bake evenly and will prevent the pan from getting too hot while baking.
Don’t over beat your eggs, this is very important
Over beating your eggs is easy to do, so be cautious of this when incorporating your eggs. If you overbeat your eggs, too much air will be incorporated into the filling causing it to rise quickly as it bakes and then sink and crack in the middle. As soon as the eggs are incorporated and the filling is smooth, turn off the machine (or drop the whisk) and be done. Resist the urge to keep mixing!
During the baking process, do not overbake
Your cheesecake is done when the edges of your cheesecake are slightly puffed up and the center is still jiggly similar to Jell-O. At this point, turn off the oven and leave the oven door slightly ajar. The cheesecake is left in the oven to finish cooking, set, and slowly cool. Then, it goes into the fridge to fully cool. This helps because drastic changes in temperature (i.e. hot oven to cold fridge) will cause cracking.
Step 1: LET’S MAKE OUR CRUST
Preheat the oven to 325 and position your oven rack to the center of your oven.
Break up your graham crackers into small pieces. Put your graham crackers, sugar and kosher salt in a food processor and pulse until the graham cracker pieces are small (size of a pea). Make sure there are no large pieces, but you don’t want it completely fine. You want your mixture to resemble wet sand.
If you don’t have a food processor you can put your graham crackers in a ziplock bag and crush with the bottom of a measuring cup or a meat mallet.
Pour your graham crackers, sugar and kosher salt mixture in a bowl. Then add your melted butter and fully mix, you can use a spoon for this. You want the texture of your crust to be crumbly. If you pinch it, it should stick together.
Add your mixture into a 8 X 3 round springform pan – distribute evenly and do not cover the sides. I made my crust about half an inch thick. Pack tightly, you can use your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup.
Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
Once done take your crust out of the oven and let cool on a cooling rack for 25 minutes. Your crust should be a light golden brown.
Keep your oven on because you will be baking your cheesecake at the same temperature. Do not pour your mixture into a hot pan or on top of a hot crust.
Step 2: FILLING
Pour your room temperature cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla extract, lemon zest, lemon juice and kosher salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix on high for 5 minutes, until creamy and completely smooth – Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure you get all your ingredients mixed.
Once you’ve mixed your ingredients completely you will now add your room temperature heavy cream. Mix on high for 30 seconds.
THIS WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR CHEESECAKE
Do not over beat your eggs! Add one egg, mix on medium until the egg is incorporated and finish incorporating with a spoon. Add your second egg and repeat the same process. Mix on medium and finish incorporating with a spoon. Finally add your third egg and repeat.
Step 3: WRAP YOUR PAN
This is a very important step, you want to wrap your springform pan with tin foil. Completely covering the bottom and sides. You will be placing your cheesecake into a waterbath and don’t want any water to get into your pan thus making your crust soggy. I used three layers of tin foil, just to be safe!
Step 4: POUR YOUR FILLING
Now you are going to pour your filling into your springform pan – make sure your crust is completely cooled during this process. Spread your filling evenly in the pan.
Step 5: WATER BATH TIME
Boil water and pour your boiling water into a baking sheet. I recommend doing this on top of your oven so you can easily place your pan in the oven with no accidents. The amount of water you boil will depend on how large your pan is. You want your water to coat the pan.
Add your cheesecake to your water bath and place in the oven. You will be cooking this cheesecake for 1 hour and 20 – 30 minutes.
Step 6: LET COOL
You want your cheesecake to be firm on the outside and jiggly on the inside JELL – O like. You can test this by jiggling your pan. You don’t want your cheesecake to be too browned on top. If you overcook your cheesecake it will crack.
Turn off your oven and let your cheesecake sit in the oven with the door ajar for 1 hour. You don’t want your cheesecake to be placed in the refrigerator right after baking. The drastic change of hot to cold will create cracks in your cheesecake.
Take your cheesecake out of the oven and place on a cooling rack for about 4 hours.
Wrap your cheesecake in saran wrap and place in the refrigerator for another 4 hours or overnight.
Step 7: MAKE YOUR MERINGUE
Tips to making your meringue
Separate your eggs while they a cold and then allow your egg white to come to room temperature for the fluffiest meringue. Make sure no yolk gets in your egg whites.
Make sure the bowl you are using is COMPLETELY CLEAN – check once and then check again.
Don’t over mix your meringue, your meringue should have a glossy look and create peaks.
Cream of tartar stabilizes your meringue and is very important!
Step 1: In a bowl with your room temperature egg white beat until glossy and smooth looking roughly 2 minutes. Then add your cream of tartar and beat for another 30 seconds.
Step 2: Gradually add your sugar to your egg whites, about a tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat until you create peaks.
Step 8: TOP YOUR CHEESECAKE
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Spread your meringue on top of your cheesecake, disperse evenly.
Place in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the peaks are golden brown. Make sure the meringue is 4 inches below the heat.
How to store your cheesecake for later?
Refrigerate leftover cheesecake for up to 5 days. The best way to store your cheesecake for a long period of time would be to wrap it tightly in saran wrap and you can keep it for up to 4 months.
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 10 ounces graham crackers (about 17)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 tablespoons (141g) unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 1 1/2 pounds (680g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup (208g) sugar
- 1/3 cup (85g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
Meringue
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ cup sugar
