Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Biscoff Crust, Wildcard Winner

Meyer Lemons. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Last January, I went on a Meyer lemon kick, using the orange-y lemons, or is that lemony oranges? in a plethora of sweets. Meyer lemon scones with dried blueberries, coconut macaroon tarts with Meyer lemon curd, and a Meyer lemon cheesecake with Biscoff crust. All were memorable recipes, but the cheesecake was spectacular. It's a riff on the classic Three Cities of Spain cheesecake published eons ago in Gourmet Magazine and probably the best-tasting and simplest-ever cheesecake to make.

Well, this little cheesecake has gotten quite a following ~ I submitted the recipe last year to Food 52 for the Best Citrus Recipes contest and it became a Community Pick, with a very nice review. And just today, it was a Test Kitchen Wildcard Winner, complete with a Glamour Food Shot and link from the front page of Food 52.

Day=Made

Check out the sweet pictures of this confection and if you want to impress your family and friends with a lemony dessert, pick up a bag of Meyer lemons and a package of Biscoff cookies and make this stupendous dessert!

Meyer lemon cheesecake with a Biscoff crust

Meyer lemon cheesecake with Biscoff crust. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

A friend needed a cheesecake, and so I made one. And not just a plain vanilla cheesecake, this time it's flavored with the juice and zest of two Meyer lemons. Have you found the Meyer lemons in your supermarket produce section? (I'm asking this question of my local friends, not my California friends, who all seem to have Meyer lemon trees, leaden with fruit, and the problem of "too many Meyer lemons.")

This is the second year that I've found the lemons in my suburban Kroger, $1.99 for a bag. What is the magic of  a Meyer, you ask? Well, it's like a lemon, but not. It's like an orange, but not. It's somewhere in between - not quite as tart as the lemon, not quite as bold as the orange, but a pleasant in-between.

Meyer lemons. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

For my lemon cheesecake, I used Biscoff cookies for the crumb crust, instead of the usual graham crackers. Biscoff have a deeper, more molasses taste that suits the Meyer lemons well. Plus, they are just exotic enough to go with the slightly-left-of-center lift of the Meyers. If you fly Delta, save up your little packs, or just visit Kroger, like the rest of us.

Biscoff cookies. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

This is the best cheesecake I've ever made. Astute recipe readers will note that it's a riff on the classic Three Cities of Spain cheesecake from Gourmet.It is the best basic cheesecake recipe in the world, and is very adaptable. I added the zest and juice of two Meyer lemons, for just the right amount of zip.

Start with the crust:

Biscoff crust

5 ounces Biscoff cookies, broken up

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Heat oven to 350. Prepare a 9-inch springform pan.

2. In a food processor, blitz Biscoff cookies until finely ground. Add sugar and salt and continue to process. Slowly pour in melted butter and process again.

3. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of springform pan. Bake in 350 oven for 10 minutes. Remove and let crust cool to room temperature.


Then make the filling:

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake

3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened (low-fat is fine, no-fat is not)

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Meyer lemons, zest removed, and juice reserved

1 (16 oz.) carton sour cream (low fat is fine, no-fat is not)

1 tablespoon sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a mixing bowl, place cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the sugar and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3. Add 1/2 of the zest to the cheesecake batter, reserving the remainder. Add all of the juice and the extracts to the batter, and continue to mix. Pour batter into prepared crumb crust. Place pan on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until cake is just set in center. Remove cake from oven but do not turn off oven.

4. Stir together sour cream, 1 tablespoon sugar and remaining lemon zest. Spoon this mixture onto the cheesecake and spread with an offset spatula or knife. Return the cake to the oven and bake for 10 additional minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven and let cool to room temperature. Store cheesecake, well-wrapped in refrigerator.

Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Bars



Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Bars by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



I accept cheesecake in every form, except perhaps, intravaneously. It's always perfect for dessert. These Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Bars make a more casual cheesecake, one that would fill out a brunch menu instead of coffeecake, or maybe an afternoon smidge-of-something-sweet to tide you over until a late supper. They are creamy, pretty and impressive. Serve with black coffee.

Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Bars with Walnut Crust

Base:

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup finely chopped nuts, such as pecans or walnuts, optional

Filling:

2 (8 oz.) packages low-fat cream cheese (neufchatel), softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 cup cherry preserves

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly butter either an 11 X 11 or 9 X 13 pan.

2. To make the crust: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and butter. Mix in the nuts, if using. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the crust for 12 to 15 minutes, until set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

3. To make the filling: in a medium-sized bowl, using a whisk, beat the cream cheese and sugar and sugar until smooth. Gently beat in the vanilla and eggs. Spread the filling over the crust.

4. Stir the preserves, warming if necessary to bake it spreadable. Spoon the preserves into a small plastic bag, snip off one corner of the bag, and pipe lines the length of the pan, slightly less than an inch apart. Use a knife to pull the preserves from side to side through the cream cheese mixture at 1-inch intervals.

5. Bake the bars for 20 to 22 minutes, just until the filling is set. The middle will wobble slightly. Remove them from the oven and run a spatula around the edges of the pan to loosen the filling; this will help prevent it from cracking. Cool for 1 hour at room temperature, then refrigerature until completely cool and firm. Yield 24 bars.

Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Bars by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books