Key Lime New York Style Cheesecake Recipe
One of my all-time favorite pies is key lime, but if you're like me, you want to take that flavor you love and use it in other things. Key lime steak is not as good as it sounds, key lime candy takes too long to figure out how to make just right, and key lime quiche.. Yuck! So, while eating some New York style cheesecake, I came up with this little recipe.
Ingredients:
Crust:
- 1 1/3 cups cookie crumbs
- ¾ cup ground vanilla wafers
- 1/3 cup melted butter
Filling:
- 20 ounces of softened cream cheese (about two and a half packages)
- 4 ounces key lime juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon grated key lime peel
In a bowl, mix together cookie crumbs and vanilla wafers with the melted butter. Then press this mixture flat against the bottom and sides of a buttered pie dish. Stick the pie dish in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for five minutes, then put the pie dish with your freshly baked crust into the refrigerator until your filling is ready.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, key lime juice and sugar together until the mixture is creamy. Add the eggs and beat again until everything is combined, use a low speed on your hand mixer so you don't send cheese flying everywhere. Then blend in the vanilla and lime peel.
Pour the filling into the crust, smoothing the top out with a spatula and place the pie dish on a baking sheet. Bake the pie at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the center is nearly set.
Cover the pie, then chill the pie overnight. Serve this pie cold.
If you cut this pie right, it should serve twelve people, but I like my pie slices a little bigger, so cut it into eighths. You can slice up two whole key limes and serve the cheesecake with a single slice of key lime on top, if you're feeling particularly artsy.
