lemon meringue cheesecake
Lemon meringue cheesecake makes a wonderful dessert that will wow your friends and relatives. This recipe is sweet, airy, rich, creamy and lemony. It's easy to make by following these steps.
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the outside of 9-inch springform pan with a double layer of foil.
2. Place the 25 shortbread cookies in a plastic sandwich-size plastic bag. Squeeze out the excess air and seal. Using a rolling pin, crush the cookies. You should have roughly 2 3/4 cups of cookie crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to a bowl. Stir in butter -- you can use margarine instead but butter will make for a creamier mixture -- and add to the pan. Use a measuring cup to press the mixture to the bottom of the pan and up the side of the pan 1 inch. Bake 12-14 minutes until lightly brown and set aside.
3. Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy on high speed. This takes about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to the low setting and beat in sugar. Increase to high, beat 2 minutes. Reduce to low and beat in sour cream, eggs, yolks, juice, zest and vanilla. Beat until smooth (about another 4 minutes).
4. Pour batter into crust. Place pan into a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with hot water halfway up the side of the pan. Bake for an hour and a half until the center moves slightly when the pan is jiggled and the cake is set.
Be sure to check after an hour. If cake is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
5. Cool on a rack for an hour, then cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
6. To make the meringue, preheat oven to 375. Remove the cake from the pan. Combine meringue powder with water and half of the sugar. Beat at high speed for 5 minutes. Slowly beat in the remaining sugar. Beat until stiff, another 5 minutes. Use the back of the spoon to spread the meringue over the cake. Bake until lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.
7. If you like a graham cracker crust instead, use 2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 6 tsp butter and 1/4 cup sugar in place of the shortbread cookies and butter.
Tags: another minutes, Beat until, graham cracker, high speed, meringue cheesecake, minutes Reduce, shortbread cookies