Over the weekend, we had our Moms over to celebrate Mothers day and I decided to serve this Key Lime Cheesecake. This is a recipe I have adapted from one a found several years ago. It is the perfect balance of tart and sweet and turns out beautifully every time. Enjoy!
Key Lime Cheesecake
Crust:
1 ¼ cups fine graham crackers crumbs (5oz.)
3 tbs. sugar
½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
2 (8oz.) packages cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tbs. sugar
¾ cup fresh or bottled key lime juice
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp. vanilla
2 ½ tbs. all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
3 large eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Stir together crumbs, sugar and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined and press into bottom and one-third up side of pan. Bake crust in middle of oven 8 minutes and cool in pan on a rack.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer at medium speed until fluffy then beat in sugar. Add lime juice, sour cream and vanilla and beat until smooth. Mix in flour and salt at low speed, scraping down side as needed, until just incorporated, then add eggs all at once and mix just until incorporated.
Pour filling into crust and set springform pan in a shallow baking pan. Bake cake in middle of oven until set in center, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool completely in sprngform pan on rack.
Run a thin knife around edge of cake and remove side of pan. Serve with slightly sweetened whipping cream.
Adapted from Gourmet magazine recipe May 2002
