Lemon Cheesecake

I am not a great fan of cheese cake, but my son is.  The only kind that I like making is the lemon/lime cheese cake out of the Philadelphia cream cheese cake cookbook that a friend of mine unloaded on me a long time ago. This recipe on Food52 caught my eye, because it is very similar to the one I make,  but instead of using the standard graham cracker crumb crust, it uses a Biscoff cookie crust.  These are awesome cookies,  especially if you are the type of person who likes a little something with their coffee or tea.   A crust made of this sounded pretty good to me and it was.  So here is the recipe.  The original recipe calls for Meyer lemons,  I used regular lemons.  It also called for a sour cream icing/topping which I skipped, this cake is rich enough.  When I tasted  the filling (yes it has raw eggs and I lived to tell),  it seemed to want more salt,  so I added some (I am guessing I added about 1/2 tsp).  Those are the only changes I made.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1/2 of  an 8.8 pack of  Biscoff cookies, crumbled
• 1/3cup sugar
• 1/8teaspoon salt
• 5tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled somewhat

Method:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter.
2. In a food processor, pulse Biscoff cookies until finely ground. Add sugar and salt and  melted butter and process again.
3. Press mixture into bottom and about a 1/3 of the way along the sides of springform pan (I got lazy and just pressed it to the bottom of the pan). Bake  for 10 minutes and let crust cool while you put together the filling.

Lemon cheesecake filling

Ingredients:

• 3 (8 oz.)packages cream cheese (I used 2 full fat and one low fat packages).  Bring to room temp. before proceeding.
• 4large eggs
• 1cup sugar
• 1teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 lemons, zest removed and juice reserved
• 1/2 tsp extract (I omitted)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, place cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. This is a real pain if your cream cheese is not soft and at room temp.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the sugar and mix well.
2. Add the zest to the  batter. Add all of the juice and the extract (if using), and continue to mix. Pour batter into prepared  crust. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until cake is just set in center.  You must place the baking sheet under the pan.  The Biscoff releases oil which could mess up your oven. Line sheet with foil if desired.
3. Remove cake from oven and let cool.  Store cheesecake, well-wrapped in refrigerator. Its better when eaten cold.