Summer Cheesecake

The first time I ever had real cheesecake was many years ago, the first time I ever visited NYC and I thought it was amazing. Up until that time, I had only eaten the kind you made in a pie pan that my mother's friends were making and I wasn't particularly impressed. The next time I had good cheesecake was one that my sister in law made which was a praline cheesecake which reminded me of the one I had in NYC only better! (I plan to add her recipe to my blog later). She shared the recipe and I bought my first spring form pan so I was in business. The recipe my sister in law had given me was heavy and decadent which I love for winter but I wanted something lighter tasting for warmer days. I found a recipe for a plain cheesecake and changed things around a bit resulting in a cheesecake that tastes light and summery!

Crust
1 C graham cracker crumbs
21/2 T melted unsalted butter
2 t sugar
Mix above ingredients and press into a greased springform pan about half way up. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 min. Take out and set aside.

5 8oz. cream cheese packages
11/2 C sugar
Cream together on med speed of electric mixer.
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
2 t vanilla
3 T flour
5 eggs and 2 egg yolks
Mix in eggs one at a time with the other ingredients on med speed.
1/2 C sour cream
2-3 t southern comfort (this makes a huge difference in the taste)
Mix again. When you remove the whisk from the mixer use your fingers to get the batter off because little pieces of zest will be clinging and you want to stir them back into the batter. Wrap the springform pan with foil. Make sure that no water can seep in. Put your foil covered spring form pan in a larger pan that you can pour water in about half way up the sides. Pour the batter over the crust, filling the pan.  Put the pans into the 350 degree oven and then pour water into the outer pan making sure water will not get inside the foil. In other words you are baking it in a water bath. Bake for 1 hour to an hour and 5 min. It should still be a little jiggly in the middle. Take out, remove from water bath and let cool completely. Run a knife around the edge when you take it out of the oven. After it has cooled take off the rim of the pan. Refrigerate until cold.
This is the picture of one baked in a water bath.

The one below was not baked in a water bath, it has browned on the edges and has risen over the edge of the pan but will fall back in as it cools and it will crack in the middle.