Honey Lemon Cheesecake with Morello Cherries and Honey Cream Sauce for National Cherry Day

On Sunday I discovered it was National Cherry day on July 16th. What a perfect excuse to make Cheesecake and use up the rest of my Trader Joe's jar of Dark Morello Cherries. Forgive me for not posting this in time for the actual day but we had company and well. . .life happens. :D 

This recipe is adapted from my basic cheesecake recipe using Philadelphia cream cheese and not homemade ricotta (didn't have the time). It's one of those recipes from long ago that I think pairs well with cherries. Friends have said it's pretty close to The Cheescake Factory's cake. . .hmm I don't know about that! I prefer to bake cheesecakes in a modified water bath to avoid cracking the top, but you can certainly skip that step if you prefer. I'm always a bit of a sauce fiend and prefer to keep my cheesecakes pretty plain so that I can easily serve up many types of cheesecake slices all week by just changing out the toppings and sauce. For this adaptation I simply added some honey my mother gave me from her friends hive. Made some honey cream sauce and viola! 

Ingredients:

Crust

2 1/2 cups honey graham crackers

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoon brown sugar

Cake Filling

3 packages of cream cheese, softened to room temp.

1 cup white granulated sugar

5 large eggs

2 cups sour cream

1/4 cup flour

4 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 10 seconds.

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon juice from a Meyer lemon

Honey Cream Sauce

4 tablespoons honey

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

(Cook over medium heat stirring constantly adjusting heat until thickened to an almost caramel sauce. Refrigerate.)

Topping

Trader Joe's Morello Dark Cherries in Syrup (or any brand you like)

Directions

In a food processor add the graham crackers and pulse for about 4 minutes to create crumbles. 

Add the melted butter and brown sugar and pulse to blend.

Cover a 10" Springform pan with at least 3 layers of tin foil. Lightly butter the bottom of pan and firmly press the graham cracker crumbles to bottom of the pan. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl add the softened cream cheese (very important to have the cream cheese at room temp. to avoid lumps), sugar and eggs. With a hand mixer, blend well until creamy. Add the flour, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice, blend. 

 Add the warm honey and incorporate well. 

Slowly pour the filling onto the graham cracker, scraping the bowl to get all that yummy goodness out. Shake the pan to level the filling. 

Time for the water bath. Now my technique is a bit different then what is commonly known as a "water bath." I don't take any chances of water invading my precious crust! In a large size pan (I used my turkey roaster) lay a pie or cake dish down in the center of the roaster to form a lift. Place the onto the middle rack of oven. Add boiling hot water to the pan until the water is 2" below the top of the cake/pie pan lift. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and boil a kettle of water if you are baking in a water bath).

When your oven beeps indicating it's preheated, slide out the middle rack and gently place the springform filled pan on top of the cake/pie pan. Carefully slide into oven and close the door. 

 Bake for approx. 1 hour and 15 minutes or until golden brown and the filling no longer jiggles. :) Let the cheesecake chill in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight before serving--the colder the better. Once chilled, unlatch the Springform Ring and remove the cake WITH the tin foil from the bottom of the pan base. 

Now carefully remove the tinfoil and gently place the bottom of the pan base back under the de-tin foiled cheesecake. You may need help with this step. 

Cut into serving wedges. Before serving, drizzle with a spoonful of honey cream sauce (the sauce is quite sweet and 1 spoonful is usually enough) and top with spoonfuls of cherries with a little of the cherry syrup. Ahhhhh how satisfying was that? And you have enough cheesecake for at least 12 generous servings!