Lemon Cheesecake

Brooke the Cook in WI's Note:

Easy enough for a beginner who has never baked a cheesecake! This reduced fat recipe has half the fat of comparable cheesecakes! If you can, make this one day ahead, the cheesecake is so much better after has fully chilled for a day.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 ¼ cups low-fat graham crackers (apx 134g+)
• 2 tablespoons Splenda sugar substitute
• 1 egg white (or 2 tablespoons egg beaters)

Cheesecake

• 1 (14 ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
• 2 (8 ounce) packages neufchatel cheese , must be at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup egg substitute
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 lemons, zest of
• 1 lemon, juice of

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. For crust: Preheat oven to 350 and prepare 8 or 9 inch spring form pan (or deep dish 9 inch pie plate). In a food processor, crush crackers and measure out 1 1/4 cup. Return crumbs to processor, add sugar, pulse until evenly blended. Add egg white and pulse until moistened. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until golden.
3. Turn oven down to 325 degrees for cheesecake.
4. Allow pie crust to cool while combining condensed milk and cream cheese (very important for ingredients to be at room temperature) on low to medium-low speed just until smooth, scraping down sides if needed. Sprinkle in cornstarch careful to be sure that it is evenly distributed. Add eggs, egg beaters, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice and combine on low speed until smooth - be careful not to overmix - scraping down the sides if needed.
5. Pour into pie crust, but don't go over the edge (it will puff some and then deflate while cooling). If bubbles appear on surface, run knife through cheesecake and pop any visible bubbles.
6. IF you have extra filling (if using a pre-made crust, you definitely will have leftover filling - this depends on size of your pie plate), spray ramekin with non-stick spray and bake 40 minutes, checking visually every 5 minutes after 30 minutes has gone by.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes (or more depending on your oven) until edges are just brown or tiny cracks appear on edges of cake and center does not jiggle when you shake the pan. Don't open the oven door more than necessary!
8. Turn oven off and prop door open and allow cheesecake to cool for 30-45 minutes in oven. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Chill in fridge overnight or a minimum of three hours,. If using spring form pan, remove edges just before serving.

Reviews

[Queen Dana]

Very good cheesecake. As some one else suggested I used the juice of two lemons instead of one, cream cheese instead of neufchatel, and normal sugar rather than splenda. Made for ZWT6.

[kellychris]

The pie itself was exceptional!! I loved the fresh lemon taste. I forgot to add the cornstarch, but that didn't affect it at all ( I don't think). This was a wonderful tasting pie BUT the crust just did not turn out right. It was very rubbery and non-edible. But the filling was SO GOOD, I am going to work on a crust for this b/c I need to make this over and over and over and over........:)

[Nasseh]

Very thick & creamy with lots of lemon flavor. I used a large pre-made crust instead of making my own. Knowing that I would have left over filling I only used 1 1/2 packages of neufchatel cheese & 1 less egg. I had just the right amount of filling for my crust. Made for PRMR Tag