Dad's Birthday Cheesecake

I make this one for Pops at least once a year. While not a typical New York cheesecake, this one is creamier with hint of sour cream/citrus taste.

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/2 cups fine ground graham crackers
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick less 1 tbsp melted butter, unsalted if possible

Filling
2 8 oz blocks cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream, room temperature
1/2 lemon, zested fine
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325°.

Combine the crust ingredients until well incorporated. Press into the bottom and sides of an 8 inch springform pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Place in refrigerator.

At this point I normally put 2-3 cups of water on to boil for the water bath.

For the mixture, beat your cream cheese on low speed until there's no more lumps. Add the eggs one at a time and allow each one time to mix well before adding the next. Gradually add the sugar, then the sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest. Pour the mix into the crust and smooth the top.

By the time you're done with your mix the water should be boiling. To make a water bath, you'll need a roasting pan that your springform pan fits in to with room on all sides and heavy duty foil. Once your mixture is done and the crust has refrigerated for a few minutes you take large squares of foil and set the pan in the center of them, folding the foil up around the outside of the springform, but without covering the top of your cheesecake. You may want to use 2 or 3 pcs of foil to ensure the springform is watertight. Then you place your foil wrapped springform into the roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it's about an inch and a half deep, or halfway up the side of your cheesecake. I find it's easier to get the foil ready before pouring in the filling.

Bake for 65 to 70 minutes. The center should be jiggly, but not wet. You will be able to tell that it's done on top but still very moist inside. At this point, turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit in the oven for 45 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for about 3o minutes. Allow it to chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours at this point, loosely covered with saran wrap (try not to let the saran wrap touch the cake, it will mark it.)

I like to eat this cake plain, but my family likes to cover it with canned fruit filling, or you can make your own.

Chocolate Alternative: You can add 8 oz melted semisweet chocolate to the batter for a chocolate cheesecake, be sure that all the mixture ingredients are room temperature though, or your chocolate will not incorporate. For this type, I like to substitute the graham crackers with chocolate teddy grahams in the crust and substitute the cinnamon for 1 tbsp sugar.