cherry cheesecake

this week, the farm gave us cherries!

you need:

for the crumb crust:
30 2in square pieces of graham cracker, finely ground graham crackers or cookies such as chocolate or vanilla wafers

1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

for the very tall cheesecake filling:
5 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar

3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

for the cherry topping (or fruit of your choice)
10 ounces sweet or sour cherries, pitted (frozen works!)
2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup water

what you should do:

make crumb crust:
1. stir together crust ingredients and press onto bottom and up the sides of your spring form pan, stopping one inch shy of the top rim

make very tall cheesecake filling:
1. preheat oven to 550 degrees.
2. beat together cream cheese, sugar, flour and zest with an electric mixer until smooth.
3. add vanilla, then eggs beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated.
4. scrape bowl down between additions and make sure everything is incorporated.
5. put springform pan with crust in a shallow baking pan (to catch drips).
6. pour filling into crust (springform pan will be completely full)
7. bake in baking pan in the middle of the oven for 12 minutes or until puffed. watch your cake; as soon as you see it puffing or starting to turn brown, turn the oven down.
8. reduce the temperature to 200 degrees and bake 1 hr more.
9. let it cool completely in springform pan.

while your cake is baking, make the cherry filling:
1. place all ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat.
2. bring to boil, boil for a minute or two.
3. take it off the burner and let it cool completely.

put it all together:
1. one your cake and the topping have cooled, pour the topping on top of the cheesecake.
2. let it set in the fridge overnight (i know, so hard! but worth it.)
3. cheesecake for breakfast.