Lost Magic of the Ship - Lemon Cheesecake

The first time I tried this recipe, I was cooking on the Arctic Sunrise. It seemed that everything worked so well on the ship, like magic! (or perhaps it was help from Walter) This week I tried to recreate my fantastic Lemon Cheesecake. The cake part was good but the crust got a little too well done, overall not as magical as the ship. Perhaps I should try the water bath next time?

the finished product

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CRUST:

• 1.5 sticks of very soft unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup shortbread cookies – I used butter cookie

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.

2. Add flour and shortbread crumbs and continue to beat until well mixed.

3. Press into a 9 inch spring form deep pan (bigger pan for ship size) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

4. Allow to cool completely before next stage.

FILLING:

•    4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
•    1 cup sugar 
•    4 eggs
•    Juice from 3 lemons
•    2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
•    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, beating on low speed just until combined. Add lemon juice, peel and vanilla; beat just until blended. Pour into crust.

cream cheese! yum

1. Bake at 350 degreesF/180 C  for 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from the oven; let stand for 5 minutes. Make the topping; spread over filling. Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Or just let ppl add the topping to each piece of cheesecake. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
2. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight (or for 6 hours) Remove sides of pan. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before slicing.

TOPPING: 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 4 tsp grated lemon rind
• 1 tablespoon (ish) corn starch

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and on low heat stir until sugar is dissolved and the sauce has thickened.

Serves 10 – 12 (ship size double the recipe 25-30)

I adopted this recipe from Lemoncheesecake.org  I figured if they had their own website for this recipe, it must be pretty darn good.