I first made this cheesecake recipe during the holidays a couple decades ago. As a college student and never having made a cheesecake before, it was a real gamble: I had only enough money on hand to buy the springform pan and the ingredients for one attempt. When I finished, my mom woke up and said, “What did you make that smells so good?” The gamble paid off.

This is exactly the full recipe I’ve used (from USENET Cookbook – CHEESECAKE-1), though I’ve always beat the cheese by hand rather than with a mixer and used the graham cracker crust. Also, the cake filling is not dry like a typical cheesecake. I prefer that, but I’ve also tried reducing the amount of lemon juice to make it more like a typical cheesecake.

Crust:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 6 Tbsp melted butter
• 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake Filling:

• 1 1/2 lb cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tsp grated lemon rind
• 2 tsp vanilla

Topping:

• 2 cups sour cream
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 egg yolk, well beaten
• 1 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, combine crust ingredients. Press crust on bottom and sides of buttered 10-inch springform pan. Bake 5 minutes, and cool.
3. In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer or by hand, beat cheese until soft. Add sugar and blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Mix in the lemon rind and the vanilla, and add to the mixture. Pour into the pre-baked crust, and bake 35 minutes.
4. Combine topping ingredients, spread on top of cheesecake, and return to oven immediately. Bake 10-12 minutes and remove from oven.
5. In a saucepan, combine dry glaze ingredients; add liquid glaze ingredients. Cook over low heat until thick. Add 1 Tbsp of butter. Cool, and spread this glaze on the cake before the glaze thickens too much.