Description
A rich, lemon cheesecake with a sour cream topping and graham cracker crust. While time consuming, this is not difficult to make.
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
Filling:
- 3 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/3 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
- zest of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, divided
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Combine graham crackers, sugar and melted butter in a medium bowl. Press mixture into an 11 inch springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool while you make filling.
- In a food processor, beat cream cheese until completely smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth after each addition. Continue to mix, adding 1 1/3 cups sugar a little bit at time until fully mixed in. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
- Pour cream cheese mixture into cooled graham cracker crust and bake for 40 minutes.
- While cheesecake is baking, mix sour cream with remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons sugar.
- Remove cheesecake from oven and gently spread sour cream on top of cheesecake. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack for 45 minutes and then transfer to the refrigerator until cheese cake is chilled but not completely cool about an hour.
- While cheesecake is cooling, make lemon glaze by whisking together sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Blend in water and lemon juice and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Remove chilled cheesecake from fridge and gently spread the lemon glaze on top of cheesecake. Chill several hours or overnight before serving.