Key lime cheesecake

My hard-working husband enjoyed a successful year in his job and found out that he had earned an all-expenses paid trip from his company! We got to choose between 3 or 4 cities to visit, and while we really wanted to go to San Diego (since neither of us has been), we thought it would be easier to stick closer to home this time around. After all, we'd be bringing our daughter, and with the travel and recent Daylight Savings time change, we wanted to keep things simple. So we opted to go to Miami, Florida.

One of the restaurants we'd been dying to try is Joe's Stone Crab.  They have been featured on countless food and travel channel programs for their stone crabs. During one travel program, the host ordered stone crabs and had a slice of key lime pie for dessert. It sounded amazing, so we did the same.

And my, oh my! That key lime pie was like a slice of heaven! I'm not usually a fan of tart desserts, but this was an exception. The tartness from the citrus was offset by the sweetness in the graham cracker crust. I wanted to make something to remind us of the time we spent in Miami, so I made a key lime cheesecake. My coworkers loved this cheesecake, so my ode to Miami was a success!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 24 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon grated lime zest (I did not include)
• 2/3 cup key lime juice (I read the user reviews and only used 1/2 cup to cut down on the tartness)

Directions

Combine cookie or graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate. (I did not refrigerate)

In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel, and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not overbeat, or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 55 to 65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking. I skipped this step, and my cheesecake did not crack.

Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven. Refrigerate cake overnight, and up to three days. 

Source: slightly adapted from Allrecipes.com

My hard-working husband enjoyed a successful year in his job and found out that he had earned an all-expenses paid trip from his company! We got to choose between 3 or 4 cities to visit, and while we really wanted to go to San Diego (since neither of us has been), we thought it would be easier to stick closer to home this time around. After all, we'd be bringing our daughter, and with the travel and recent Daylight Savings time change, we wanted to keep things simple. So we opted to go to Miami, Florida.

One of the restaurants we'd been dying to try is Joe's Stone Crab.  They have been featured on countless food and travel channel programs for their stone crabs. During one travel program, the host ordered stone crabs and had a slice of key lime pie for dessert. It sounded amazing, so we did the same.

And my, oh my! That key lime pie was like a slice of heaven! I'm not usually a fan of tart desserts, but this was an exception. The tartness from the citrus was offset by the sweetness in the graham cracker crust. I wanted to make something to remind us of the time we spent in Miami, so I made a key lime cheesecake. My coworkers loved this cheesecake, so my ode to Miami was a success!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 24 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon grated lime zest (I did not include)
• 2/3 cup key lime juice (I read the user reviews and only used 1/2 cup to cut down on the tartness)

Directions

Combine cookie or graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate. (I did not refrigerate)

In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel, and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not overbeat, or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 55 to 65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking. I skipped this step, and my cheesecake did not crack.

Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven. Refrigerate cake overnight, and up to three days. 

Source: slightly adapted from Allrecipes.com