Ingredients
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4 cups graham crackers, ground into crumbs (2 celophane packages)
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1 cup pecans, chopped finely (feel free to omit these or replace with some other kind of nut, macadamea, almond, etc)
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2/3 cup brown sugar
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2 teaspoons cinnamon (you can skip if you want a more "pure, basic" cheesecake)
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1 cup butter, melted
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3 lbs softened cream cheese
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4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
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2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
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6 eggs
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1 cup sugar
Instructions
- Use a 12" spring form pan- I've used a 10" pan, but had a little filling left over.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine graham crackers, butter, brown sugar, and pecans until nice and crumbly (I use a food processor).
- Press into the springform pan, use a metal measuring cup to flatten bottom and build up the sides of the crust as close to the top edge of the pan as possible.
- In Kitchenaid or other stand mixer, whip soft cream cheese (must be soft and smooth or you will have ghastly chunks in the finished product), sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.
- Beat in eggs one at a time until well blended.
- Place cheesecake pan on top of a rimmed baking sheet to keep melted butter from running into your oven.
- Pour filling into crust (If there is a little filling left over, just pour it into another cake pan and bake a small cake"for sampling").
- Bake until the cheesecake has just begun to crack and is not jiggly, about 70 minutes- check at 45-50 minutes and keep an eye on it.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool several minutes.
- Keep oven heat at 350.
- Combine topping ingredients and pour over warm cake, tilt to cover to edges.
- Return to oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
- Chill in refrigerator 4 to 5 hours.
- Serve.