Simple Cheesecake

    I got to spend some time with a wonderful friend of mine yesterday! We fired up her grill and cooked a feast fit for a king. She and her son love cheesecake and I had never tried to make it before. So, I hit the grocery store on the way over and stocked up on cream cheese! This is a pretty low maintenance cheesecake recipe. It's pretty great! Elyse melted some dark chocolate with coconut oil and drizzled it on top, such a good idea. I brought some leftovers into work today, I'm pretty sure my cheesecake is better than our featured Sicilian cheesecake at the Olive Garden, just saying.  It'd be great with some fresh berries or maybe a little caramel on top. The possibilities are endless!

Simple Cheesecake

Ingredients:

 for the crust:

- 2 cups of finely ground graham cracker crumbs

- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1/2 cup of butter, 1 stick, melted

 for the cheesecake:

- 5 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

- 1 and 1/2 cup of sugar

- 7 eggs, at room temperature

- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 1/4 cup of plain greek yogurt

- the zest of one lemon

    Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, and melted butter with a fork. Spray a 9 1/2 inch spring-form baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and gently pack the graham mixture into the bottom. Set aside or in the fridge while you make the cheesecake batter. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until, completely smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly beat in eggs, one at a time. Gently mix in the vanilla, yogurt, and lemon zest, you don't want to over mix it once you've added the eggs. Pour the batter over the graham cracker crust. Place in the bottom third of the oven and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes have passed, without opening the oven door, set the temperature to 225 degrees and let bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the center in mostly set. You shouldn't open the oven at all because you'll lose heat and it may cause your cake to crack. Remove and refrigerate for several hours before serving.