The Christmas Lemon Cheesecake ! Despite all my hard work making gluten free Christmas Puddings, Mince Pies and Christmas Cake … Bethany still insists that she doesn’t like fruit in baking! I don’t mind, I’ll continue to bake these things because the family love them and you can’t tell the difference … plus there’s always that tiny-teeny possibility that one day, Bethany may just decide that she does like spiced fruit and I’m not going to be caught out, no-sir-ee!

That said, Bethany adores lemon cheesecake and I find that this light, citrus, no cook cheesecake is the perfect end to a hearty meal. Plus I’ve added a gluten free ginger biscuit base for good measure… it works wonders for the digestive system don’t you know, and despite being 1 year off 40, I’m already struggling with over indulgence so anything to aid post meal heartburn is a winner in my books! This Lemon Cheesecake can be made the day before which means one less thing to worry about on the day if you’re entertaining. Otherwise, make sure you leave the whole cheesecake in the fridge for a good couple of hours to allow the top to set.

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Lemon Cheesecake

This is a seriously lemony lemon cheesecake, be prepared to have your palette cleansed and your sense awakened!

Servings: 8

Ingredients

397 g condensed milk
300 g cream cheese
300 ml double cream
4 lemons - remove zest and squeeze
2 packets of gluten free ginger biscuits (approx 300g in total)
80 g butter
1 more lemon for decoration
200 ml water
100 g caster sugar

Instructions

Blitz the biscuits in a blender or bash with a rolling pin until fine breadcrumbs.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add crumbs mixing to combine.
Tip mixture into a loose based cake tin, mine is 9" and smooth down with the back of a dessert spoon.
Pop in the fridge for an hour to harden.
To make the cheesecake filling add the cream cheese to a large bowl and whisk until smooth, add the whole tin of condensed milk, the double cream and then finally, whisk in the lemon juice squeezed from the 4 lemons and set aside the lemon zest to fold in afterwards (I find the whisk gathers all the zest up so its best to fold this in)
Plop all the lemon mixture into the cake tin to cover the ginger biscuit base and smooth the surface to avoid lumps and bumps.
Pop back into the fridge.
To make the candied lemon decoration simply finely slice the 5th lemon, add to a little saucepan along with 200ml water, simmer for 30mins, top up water to approx 200ml again and add the caster sugar. Keep an eye on this whilst it bubbles, shake the pan once or twice but don't stir.
Once the water/sugar mixture looks syrupy, remove from the heat and life out the slices onto a piece of baking paper, these can be kept on the side overnight to harden slightly (they will not go hard, they'll have a bit of chewiness to them)
The next day, run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen, remove the sides and top with the candied lemon slices.