This lemon cheesecake is one of the desserts I have been making since I was a teen, all my girlfriends would basically pool around the cheesecake with a spoon and well, that would be the end of that cheesecake. Such sweet memories, even now it’s a family favourite and always present at any formal dinner.
Such a great reward in flavour and contrast of textures with such little effort. It requires very few ingredients, there’s no need to bake and it is incredibly easy to make. You can also very easily make any variations to it by just changing up the sauce to whatever berry you have at hand or a mix of forrest berries? Whatever works for you.
My personal favourite is lemon cheesecake with strawberry sauce. I think the tanginess of the lemon zest works best with the sweetness of the strawberries.
- 2 cups crumbled Digestive cookies
- 225 gr melted butter
- 1 large box (395 ml) condensed milk
- 400 gr Philadelphia cream cheese
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup lemon juice (strained)
- zest of 1 lime
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp gelatin
- 300 gr strawberries (frozen works well)
- 2 tbs sugar
- Handful of fresh strawberries for decorating.
- 1. In a bowl mix the crumbled Digestive cookies (I have found that using a food processor to crumble the cookies is the most efficient way to do it) with about half the melted butter stirring until the butter has been absorbed by the cookies. Add more butter if needed to achieve a consistency of wet sand making sure the cookie-butter mix is not overly moist.
- 2. Transfer the cookie-butter mix into a large pie form and press it into the form. Make sure the cookie mix is nicely compacted into place managing to get about 1 cm of what will be your pie crust. And refrigerate until ready to use.
- 3. In a deep bowl mix condensed milk, cream cheese, vanilla and 1/2 cup of lemon whisk until the mixture is lump free and perfectly smooth. Taste and add more lemon juice if needed.
- 4. In a glass, dilute the gelatin in 2 tbs of cold water, let it set and then reheat in microwave for 30-40 seconds or place the glass in hot water for a couple of minutes until liquid. Add the gelatin to the cream and mix until it has blended in well.
- 5. Pour the cream mixture over the crust and top with a couple of shavings of lime zest. Refrigerate over night or at least for 4 hours.
- 1. In a saucepan put the frozen strawberries or halved fresh berries. Pour in enough water to cover the strawberries and add the sugar. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to a very low simmer and cook for 20 - 30 mins or until the water has evaporated and the sauce has thickened. Taste for sweetness and add a spinkle of sugar if necessary but remember your cheesecake is already quite sweet.
- If you feel your sauce is too thin you can add a table spoon of Maizena diluted in a little bit of water and then letting the sauce boil for a little while longer to remove any flour like taste.