Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350° degrees F.
- Lightly toast the almonds. Place them in a shallow frying pan and cook, stirring and shifting often, until they start to toast. (This will smell really good – and when you start to smell it, they’re just about done.)
- If using a fresh lemon, squeeze the lemon.Seed the vanilla beans. Discard the shells. (I place them in a container with sugar — this makes wonderful vanilla sugar that you can use for all sorts of things from flavoring your morning coffee to boosting up your white cake recipe.)
- Wrap a 9-inch springform pan tightly with foil.
For the Crust
- Grind the cookies in the food processor. Measure out ⅔ cup. Grind the almonds in the food processor. Add the ⅔ cup cookie crumbs. Add the sugar. Add the butter. Pulse until mixed.
- Press the crust mixture into the bottom only of the pan. Bake until the crust is set – 12-15 minutes.
For the Cheesecake
- Reduce the oven to 325° degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the cheeses until fluffy. Add the sugar. Add the lemon juice and vanilla bean. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix well.
- Pour into the springform pan. Place pan in a large roasting pan. Set the pan in the oven. Pour hot water into the pan until it comes up halfway up the springform pan.
- Bake until the middle is just jiggly – about 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes.Remove from oven, remove from roasting pan, and chill in refrigerator until cold – about 8 hours.