Servings: 9-10” cheesecake
Ready Time: 8 hours, includes 6 hours cooling/chilling time
Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or Oreo cookie crumbs)
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup butter, melted
Filling
35 oz (4 x 250g packs) full fat cream cheese, room temp.
1 ½ cups sugar
1 vanilla beans, scraped
1 lemon, zest only
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1 ½ cups 35% cream
Method
To make the crust, add melted butter to the graham cracker crumbs and blend well (it should hold tight when packed in a fist). Press the crust firmly into the bottom of parchment lined 9” springform pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before filling with cheesecake batter.
To make the filling, preheat the oven to 230°F (110°C). In a mixing bowl, combine room temperature cream cheese, sugar, vanilla seeds, and lemon zest. Beat in the bowl of a stand electric mixer using a paddle attachment (a hand electric mixer will also do) on medium speed and blend until smooth. Add whole eggs, and yolks, one a time, scraping the sides of the bowl in between for uniform incorporation. With the mixer on low speed, drizzle in the cream and mix until smooth. (Scrape the sides of the bowl one more time and continue mixing if needed). Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake on a tray, on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour 40 minutes. The centre of the cheesecake should still have a slight “jiggle” to it when it’s done and will set up firm once it has chilled.
Turn off the oven and with the oven door slightly ajar, allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature (approximately 3 hours); this is to help prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.
Slightly loosening the ring of the springform pan about 20 to 30 minutes into the cooling process allows the cake to contract at will, keeping it from sticking to the sides, and therefore further preventing it from cracking.
Transfer the cheesecake to the refrigerator and chill for a minimum of 3 hours before serving.