IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL INGREDIENTS MUST BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE BEFORE STARTING
- 250g (1 cup) Lotus Biscuits or Digestives
- 75g(1/3 cup) butter, melted
- 680g (3 cups) American style Cream Cheese
- 150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
- 20g (2 tablespoons) plain flour
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- Finely-shredded Peel of half a lemon (optional)
- 2 whole eggs
- 60ml (1/4 cup) milk
Prepare your pans; line the outside of a 20cm (8-inch) springform tin with aluminium foil all the way up the sides of the pan, to ensure that no water seeps into the tin. Have a larger tin with high sides that springform can sit in to create a water bath ready.
Crush the biscuits in a food processor until they reach a fine-crumb consistency, add the melted butter to the biscuit crumbs and combine. Press the crumb/butter mixture into an 8-inch spring form pan that has been lined with baking paper. Place crumb-filled pan into the fridge to “firm up”.
Heat oven to 160℃ (320℉).
Boil a kettle full of water.
Meanwhile, while the crumb base is firming up, make the filling. In the large processor mixing bowl, or using a stand mixer or a hand held whisk, combine: The American cream cheese, caster sugar, plain flour, vanilla extract, and lemon peel (if using), process or beat mixture until very smooth.
Once smooth, stop the machine, and add all together the whole eggs and the milk. Process until just combined. Using a spatula, mix all the ingredients together, scraping down the sides of the bowl, and set aside for one minute.
Retrieve the crumb base from the fridge and use some of the melted butter, leftover from the butter you used to bind the crumb base, to brush the inside rim of the pan from just above the crust until the top.
Pour cheesecake filling onto the cookie crumb layer. Place the cheesecake inside the larger tin, fill the tin with just-boiled water from the kettle, the water should reach halfway up the aluminium foil-lined tin.
Bake at 160˚C for about an hour, until the centre of the cake still jiggles, but the sides are set.
Turn off the oven, allow the cake to cool in the oven, with the door ajar for at least an hour, cool completely before putting it into the fridge.
Let the cake set in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.
Fresh cooled cheese can easily be frozen for up to one month.
If serving from frozen, let the cake thaw for at least three hours before serving.
