Light Lemon Cheesecake

Need a wonderful dessert that is flavorful and won’t add inches to your waistline? Try this luscious lemon cheesecake for your next gathering! Garnish it with fresh berries of your choice… sure to be a huge hit!

Light Lemon Cheesecake

Yield: 8 – 10 slices

Ingredients:

Crust:

15 shortbread cookies, preferably Girl Scout Trefoil cookies
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Vegetable spray

Filling:

2 8-ounce packages, light cream cheese
½ cup plain Non-fat Greek yogurt, or light sour cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large/extra-large eggs, room temperature
1 lemon
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Toppings: Fresh raspberries, whole (or strawberries, sliced)

3 tablespoons raspberry or strawberry jam, heated

Whipped cream

Equipment needed:

8-inch spring form pan
Small food processor
Large food processor (or stand up/ hand mixer)
Measuring spoons
Dry measuring cups
Citrus juicer
Microplane or fine grater
Small sharp knife
Rubber spatula
Waxed paper
Aluminum foil

Can you believe that these few ingredients can create an amazing dessert? One of my hubby’s favorites too! For his birthday, lemon something is a given and it’s usually cake. This year I surprised him with a cheesecake instead… He was delighted! This cheese cake is versatile as you can garnish however you please! I usually top with fresh raspberries or strawberries… but have been known to use lemon curd! Never too much lemon! The shortbread crust is light too and perfect choice for this dessert. Grab your spring form pan and let’s bake!

Preheat oven to 375 F.

To begin I prep the pan so it’s ready when the filling is too! This recipe is super quick too, so easier to have everything ready. I also have learned to line the bottom of the spring form pan with aluminum foil. This helps catch the excess butter that may drip out from the pan grooves… thus making less mess of your oven. I have learned to line pretty much everything I bake, as I hate taking the time to clean my oven! Lightly spray the pan with vegetable spray and set pan aside. Start by placing the cookies into the processor. If you don’t have a small one, use your large one… or roll them in a zip lock baggie until crumbs are formed. Add the melted butter to the crumbs and mix with a fork (or continue to process) until all crumbs are coated with butter. Place crumbs into prepped spring form pan and press evenly into bottom and up side of pan, ½ inch, as shown above.

Get the lemon juice and zest ready next. Begin by rolling the lemon under your hand back and forth a few times. This will help extract more lemon juice when you juice it. Zest the lemon, first as it is so much easier to do with a whole fruit! I usually zest over a small piece of waxed paper. Carefully scrape the lemon against the grater, only zesting off the yellow layer. The white is quite bitter, so try not to add too much of this section of rind. One lemon should provide about 2 – 3 teaspoons rind, which is fine for this recipe. After zesting, cut lemon in half and juice each half. Again, you should have close to 1/4 cup of juice out of one lemon, depending on its size. If you are a bit short, add a little store-bought juice to make the ¼ cup.

Last step is to mix it all together. I started using a food processor to make cheesecake awhile back when I found it blended the ingredients so perfectly and lump free. If you don’t have a processor, use a mixer with the whisk attachment. It will just take more mixing, but works well too. Place all the ingredients remaining in the processor, except for the lemon zest and juice. Pulse until mixture is smooth. Add lemon ingredients and continue to blend for another minute. It will look bubbly, but these will settle out in a few minutes.

Almost ready for baking! Pour cream cheese mixture into prepared crust and scrape out all the goodies! Place the cheesecake onto the center rack of a preheated 375 F oven. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 250 F. DO NOT be tempted to open the oven door. Turn the oven light on and gaze in! Continue baking for 25 more minutes. DO NOT REMOVE cheese cake from the oven. Open the door and gently jiggle the pan, using an oven mitt of course! The center will be barely set when the pan is jiggled slightly and the surface will appear dull in sheen compared to when you first placed it in the oven. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven with the door slightly cracked for 15 – 20 more minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the oven. Gently run a sharp knife around the inner edge of the pan to release the cheesecake from the edge. This will help prevent the cake from cracking as it cools and pulls away from the pan. Allow cake to further cool on the counter until it reaches room temperature before placing in the refrigerator, about 30 – 40 minutes. Slower the cake cools, less chance for cracking of the surface. Place cheesecake in refrigerator until serving time.

Remove cheesecake from refrigerator about 20 minutes prior to serving to allow it to warm up and loosen up a bit. Place 3 – 4 tablespoons jelly/jam in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 15 – 20 seconds. Rinse and slice fruit. Assemble your masterpiece by first drizzling warm jam/ jelly on cake and them fruit. Add a dollop of whipped cream and voila, your dessert is ready. See how happy my hubby is with his birthday treat? ....Enjoy!!