Cheesecake Lemon Aide

If I think back to about this time last year, I had a pretty mean cheesecake recipe. Yup, there it is. It has saved me time and time again, and probably my favorite part about it is how easy it is to throw together. I bake a lot of my desserts for "Celebration Fridays" for the staff and patients, and like a couple other hundred things I do... I kinda have to wait until the last minute.

So yeah it gets to be like 9pm on a Thursday, and I'm like... "Oh man, I have to still do that!"

It's a good thing cheesecake requires as much brainpower as watching old Ren&Stimpy cartoons.

So what's up with the different deliciousness this time? Well, now that summer is coming on full tilt, I decided to wish spring a bon voyage with a spring flavor. Lemon. Now, is lemon a spring flavor? To me it is :)

Also, another thing you might notice is that unless it's on s'more's, I try to avoid graham crackers. I dunno, they just taste like cardboard... and totally look like it. So, I try to experiment with different bases for my cheesecake.

Today's culprit are: Animal Crackers... which I think is a pretty cool idea. Who doesn't love animal crackers? I mean they are right there from your youth, next to Kool-Aid, Bugles, and Creepy Crawlers/EZ Bake Ovens. And I found these without trans-fat... which is kind of a special find, seeing how they can sit on the shelf for a little while :)

Animal Cracker Lemon Cheesecake

Recipe by Dr. Adam

Crust:

-1 - 1.5 cups animal crackers, crushed into small almost powder pieces

-1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

-1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

-2 pkg. 80z low fat cream cheese

-1/2 cup sugar

-1/2 zest of one lemon (or to taste)
-1 Tbs lemon juice
-1 Tsp vanilla

-2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350*. Lightly butter a small 8 inch springform pan, or a 12 cup muffin tin (in this case).

To make the crust, place the cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar together in a small bowl. Using a wooden spoon, mix together gently, until the crumbs become moist and stick together. Feel free to use your hands and combine together well. Take out small tablespoon portions and press into the bottom of the muffin tin or springform pan. Press down firmly, making sure it covers the bottom completely.

For the filling, lightly beat the softened cream cheese until it becomes smooth, and add the lemon zest and sugar to the mix. Increase the speed to medium until you don't see any granulation or sugar specks anymore.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and lemon juice, and continue to mix the mixture until it becomes smooth, perhaps another 2 minutes or so. Make sure you scrape the bowl with a spatula, and everything is equally combined.

Pour the filling into the tin or pan, so that it travels about halfway up the pan. With a muffin tin, I just poured equal amounts into the 12 cups.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick, broom straw, or cake tester comes out clean. Make sure not to overbake these guys. For a springform pan, I suppose the time would be closer to 35-40 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack, and then place in the fridge for a few hours to totally firm up. Feel free to top with fruit or jam... or just enjoy them on their own :)

Thanks to everyone for wishing me a warm welcome back. I know it's been awhile, but I've had some serious stuff to attend to. I have done some serious time organizing, and am trying to balance out all the cool things I like to do, and that includes hanging with awesome food friends. I hope you all had an awesome weekend, and let summer and grilling begin :) Oh, and if anyone ever has some recommendations for baked goods you'd like to see in a doctor's office, well let me know :)