Another Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecake

I made this recipe again for a dinner party last night, and it was better than ever. This time, I made the crust out of gingersnaps (two cups crushed up and 4 T melted butter). I also added another cream cheese package because I used a bigger (9") springform pan. (So, 12 ounces of goat cheese and 16 ounces of cream cheese.) It was very fluffy and delicious. The cat was obsessed with trying to get some for herself.

Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecake

This is a modified version of a recipe from your Luscious Lemon Desserts book by Lori Longbotham, Mom. It was super tasty even on Day 1; I imagine Day 3 would be excellent. Not too sweet.

The original recipe would have made a very tall cheesecake; I split it more or less in half to make it more reasonable. It served about 12.

Crust:

• 1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together butter and crumbs. Press into pan. (I used a regular nonstick deep cake pan, which worked fine. Springform would be good too.) Bake for 10 minutes an set aside to cool.

Put a dry deep pan in the oven and turn it down to 325.

Filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup or more lemon zest (I used the zest from 3 lemons.)

Mix together, or pulse in food processor. Set aside.

• 11 ounces goat cheese
• 1 package cream cheese
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 eggs

Beat the cheese together until fluffy. Add the sugar mixture, vanilla and lemon juice and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Scrape into pan. Pour boiling water into pan to come halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. Bake for an hour and a half.

My regular New York cheesecake recipe doesn’t use a water bath, and I may try this without one next time, reducing the heat accordingly.

Roasted Garlic, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Goat Cheese Pizza

That's a really pretentious name for our very best favorite pizza. I think I started making this when you were in high school.

For this one I made a crust of 2/3 white and 1/3 spelt flours. I baked 10 garlic cloves in olive oil in a little baking dish for 30 minutes. I soaked some sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water for 15 minutes, then drained them and tossed them with a little of the oil from the garlic.

I brushed the raw pizza crust with the garlic oil, then spread on a thin layer of mixed shredded Italian cheeses. Then I decorated it with the sun-dried tomatoes, the chopped garlic, and 6 ounces crumbled goat cheese, and sprinkled it with chopped fresh basil and parsley. Mmmm.