2 things

First off I need to give a shout out to my BFF Jen (or Jen nay nay, as Brian likes to call her). It is her BIRTHDAY today!! Jen and I have been friends since we were 12. If you know how old we are you know that we have been friends for a very, very long time. She is a true TREASURE! I hope you are having a SUPER day !! LOVE YA, friend.

Second of all I wanted to give you my recipe for the LEMON SWIRL CHEESECAKE. I changed this recipe quite a bit from the original . It looked pretty and tasted really good, but it had it's share of problems. I decided I wanted to make a gingersnap crust. Katie made this with my supervision. I buttered my springform pan and put a piece of parchment on top and buttered that as well. As it was baking all of the sudden there was smoke coming out of my oven. I could hardly believe this, because mr. amazing had just cleaned the oven the day before. It was so much work to push that "self clean" button...that is why he is mr. amazing! Anyways back to the smoke. I take a peek in and it looks like there is a small amount of water on the bottom. What in the world is that, and where is it coming from.! Well we figured out it was butter coming out from my crust. I stuck a pan on the rack underneath it to help. We proceeded with the rest of the recipe and it seemed fine. The next day is where the trouble started again. It was very difficult to cut! The crust was pretty much stuck to the pan, and the cheesecake was not cutting nicely. It was fine, because it was for family. I give you this recipe with some caution. DO NOT make my version of the crust or the cake. I would look for some other recipes for gingersnap crusts. The King Arthur flour website has a good one that I used for Thanksgiving. I would maybe use 1 8 oz. package of regular cream cheese and 1 light next time. I'm not willing to give up on this recipe, because it was soooo good!! Despite the fact that it didn't look pretty on the plate it tasted very good!! If you are a lemon lover and you like to experiment with recipes I would encourage you to try this.

Crust
Find a good gingersnap crust recipe.

Filling
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature (light)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
3/4 cup sour cream (light)
2 large eggs
Topping
1 cup light sour cream, room temperature (mix with 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 tbs. sugar)
1 11 1/4-ounce jar purchased lemon curd
2/3 cup chilled whipping cream

For filling:Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, lemonade concentrate and lemon peel in large bowl until smooth. Beat in 3/4 cup sour cream. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined. Pour filling into crust. Bake until center moves only slightly when pan is shaken, about 50 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool 5 minutes.
Meanwhile for topping:Whisk 1 cup sour cream in small bowl until very smooth. Whisk lemon curd in another small bowl until very smooth.
Run small sharp knife around sides of cake. Starting at outside of edge of cake, spoon small alternating dollops of sour cream and lemon curd side by side in concentric circles atop warm cake, covering cake completely. Gently shake pan to smooth out toppings. Using tip of knife, gently swirl toppings, forming marble design. Chill cake uncovered overnight.
Using electric mixer, beat cream in medium bowl until stiff peaks form. Spoon cream into pastry bag fitted with medium star tip.
Run small sharp knife around sides of cake to loosen. Release pan sides of cake to loosen. Release pan sides. Transfer cake to platter. Pipe cream in decorative scallop border around top edge of cake.

xoxoxo

Rach