Honey Citrus Cheesecake

Last night I made Vesna’s blueberry cheesecake for a really sweet girl at work who requested this cake for her 20th birthday.

After I made the blueberry cheesecake for her, I decided to make a cheesecake for me and Kemal, but I made the crust a little different. Kemal isn’t crazy about graham cracker crusts, so I made our cheesecake with ladyfingers dipped in tangerine juice. And since we both love raw honey, I topped our cheesecake with that and a little whipped cream.

The crust (as well as the cheesecake) had a beautiful taste, but I didn’t care for the texture of the crust because it was too wet. Graham cracker crusts are much better for cheesecakes I think. I’ll give you the recipe I used in case you want to try it, but honestly, I suggest just making it with a graham cracker crust instead.  To do so, you’ll need a stick of butter and sleeve of graham crackers. Click on the link for Vesna’s blueberry cheese for instructions on how to make a graham cracker crust.

Honey Citrus Cheesecake

Adapted from: Vesna’s Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 12 ladyfinger cookies
• 1 cup tangerine juice (you can substitute with orange juice)
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1 pkg. Dream Whip whipped topping
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cold milk
• Optional: cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Instructions:

• Remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator so it can soften some.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour a round, 8-inch Springform cake pan.
• Pour the tangerine (or orange) juice in a bowl.
• Use your fingers to submerge a ladyfinger cookie into the juice until it gets soft, and then place it in your greased baking pan.
• Continue this process with the rest of the ladyfingers until the bottom of the cake pan is covered. (Since you’re using a round pan and rectangular shaped cookies, you’ll need to break some of the cookies apart in order to cover the bottom of the pan.)
• Next, press down on the very soft cookies to make a moist crust. Flatten the cookies out so the entire bottom of the pan is covered…similar to how you would flatten a graham cracker crust.
• Now you want to make sure your Springform pan doesn’t leak any juice. If it is leaking, let the liquid ooze out the edges then wipe the outside of the pan. You can place the Springform pan on top of a cookie sheet and then bake it that way if you’re worried it will leak. I didn’t do that though and didn’t have any problems with the pan leaking.
• Bake the crust for 10 minutes.
• While the crust is baking, make the filling for your cheesecake by mixing together the cream cheese, the 2 eggs, and the sugar with an electric beater.
• Remove the crust from the oven after 10 minutes, and then pour the cheesecake filling on top of the crust.
• Flatten the filling with a spatula so it’s even and then bake for about 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes, check your cheesecake. If it’s still a little jiggly in the center, reduce the heat to 300 degrees and cook for another 10 minutes or so, being sure to watch it carefully.
• When the cheesecake is no longer jiggly, remove it from the oven and let it cool on the counter.
• After it’s cooled down, spread the honey on top of it.
• Refrigerate overnight.
• In the morning, make your whipped topping by beating together one package of Dream Whip, the vanilla, and the milk.
• Decorate the top of the cheesecake with whipped cream, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar if you like, then serve cold.