Dirk's Birthday Cheesecake

Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 10 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup margarine, melted
• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 500 g reduced-fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 (300 ml) can condensed milk, not evaporated
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch, i prefer custard powder
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 lemon, juice and zest of
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Recipe

• 1 topping: in a small bowl blend together cup of sour cream and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. set aside.
• 2 base: preset oven to 325 degrees f. blend together melted margarine, graham cracker crumbs and 1 tablespoon sugar. press firmly on the base of a 9" sprayed springform pan and bake for 10 minutes. cool completely then cover the base of the pan on the outside (so that the pan base will not allow water from the water bath to seep in) with heavy tin foil set aside and prepare the filling.
• 3 cheesecake filling: in a blender blend until smooth cream cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream, condensed milk, cornstarch or custard powder, eggs, lemon zest and juice and vanilla extract. pour gently over cooled crumb base.
• 4 water bath: place springfoam pan in a large enough shallow roasting pan and fill with enough water to come up the sides to about half an inch.
• 5 baking: reduce oven heat to 300 degrees f and bake cheesecake in the water bath for 1 hour. pour over the topping and continue to bake a further 10 to 15 minutes.
• 6 remove cheesecake from the oven and from the water bath. cool completely on a wire rack then refrigerate.