Cheesecake with Meyer Lemon-Ginger Curd

Hey errbody, this winter feel long enough for all of you? Why do we live here again? Someone remind me, because I've legit forgotten.

Anyway, time for a recipe that will brighten up your day. I made this a while back and for all of my fellow lemon lovers, you're going to shit, I guarantee it. This is a Food Network mag recipe, from the very first issue that ever arrived in my mailbox. Little did I know, it would be the beginning of the most beautiful relationship (with a magazine subscription) that I will probably ever have.

Just in case you weren't aware, Meyer lemons are from heaven. They are slightly sweeter than a regular lemon and they are a gift from God. I'm pretty sure He picked them in His own garden and sent them to us here on Earth because how else could we have something so beautiful and wonderful in our grocery stores? Yep, that's the only reasonable explanation.

So, to the cheesecake...

For the Crust:
8 whole graham crackers and 1 1/2 cups lightly crushed butter cookies
5 Tablespoons butter, melted

*Okay, right away I have a disclaimer. I didn't use the butter cookies (because I couldn't find any) and the way we get our graham crackers in grocery stores in Canada vs. how they get them in the US is obviously different. I discovered this when I was making another recipe recently and the recipe asked for 9 graham crackers for an entire pie crust. Never in a million years would that be enough so my best guess for this recipe is to use about 2-2 1/2 cups crushed graham crumbs (or a mixture of graham crumbs and butter cookie crumbs). When you add the butter and mix it up it should look like wet sand so you can always start with less and add either more crumbs or butter depending on the texture. When you squish it between your fingers it should hold it's shape fairly well, so that's how you can tell that you have the right consistency.

For the Filling:
3 8 oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature (I had a friend ask me how much 8 oz of cream cheese was. It's one brick of cream cheese. So you need 3 bricks)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 Tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice (from about 1 lemon. DON'T YOU DARE USE BOTTLED LEMON JUICE FOR THIS!!)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 
For the Curd:
1 4 inch piece ginger, peeled (you have to grate this thing and it takes a while and will make your arm sore, just so you know...)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice (from about 4 lemons. Again, no juice from a bottle. Don't even use regular lemons, we can't be friends anymore if you skip out on using Meyer lemons. Your life will be better after experiencing them, I promise)
2 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Sliced strawberries, for serving

Directions:
Make the crust first. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you are using whole cookies/crackers, pulse those in a food processor first until you have fine crumbs. Drizzle the melted butter all over the crumbs in the food processor then pulse again until you achieve wet sand crumbs. Press into the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake until golden, about 10 mins, then remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.

Next, make the filling. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth and a touch fluffy (you'll get there in about 3 minutes).

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the lemon juice (from heaven) and the vanilla. Pour the batter into the prepared crust

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 mins - until the edges are set and the middle is still slightly jiggly. Turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake in there with the door slightly ajar for 20 more minutes. Transfer to a rack, let cool completely, then refrigerate at least four hours or overnight.

Once your cheesecake is completely cooled off, make the curd. Finely grate the ginger then press through a fine mesh sieve to extract the juice. Whisk the eggs, sugar and cream in a small nonreactive saucepan until combined. Add the lemon juice and ginger juice and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly (CONSTANTLY!! Leave this alone for even one second too long and it will burn. I learned the hard way and had to throw away my first batch of curd), until thick and bubbly, about 6 minutes. Make sure you have this much free time, nothing in your life is more important during these 6 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until melted. Strain through a fine mesh sieve (press it through with a rubber spatula) and refrigerate until ready to use.

Once everything is ready, spread the curd over the cheesecake and allow AT LEAST 30 mins to set in the fridge.

Remove from springform ring and slice. Serve with sliced strawberries (if you so desire).

Confession time. This last picture was taken the next day as I didn't give the curd the proper amount of time to set when I first cut it. So by the next day it had had lots of time to chill out (har har) and looked much prettier when sliced.

And now my dear readers, I want to hear from you. Anything you don't know how to do and would like to? Any cooking questions you have and would like an answer to? Any ingredients you're curious about and would like me to feature? I had a friend ask me about avocados the other day. She had no clue what to do with them so once I compile a few different things, I will do some small features. Please don't be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they're stupid or you're stupid for not knowing something that you think is obvious. Other people might have the same question and it doesn't hurt to ask. You can either leave a comment on this post or email me at ashley.olynick@hotmail.ca if you're too shy to have others see your question.

Okay, that's it. For today.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Ash