Baked Cheesecake Recipe_

This one takes a bit longer to make, it's an hours cooking time, with an extra 30 mins for prep, and overnight refrigeration, but you'll serve around 8 people in the end.

For the ingredients your portions may vary very slightly based on tin size etc, but I always like to buy a bit too much rather than have a bit too little to help fill the gaps.

Ingredients

Base

• 250g butternut cookies
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 100g butter, melted
• 500g cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla esscence
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 eggs

Icing

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar nutmeg, to sprinkle

Method

1. Line the base of a 20cm round springform tin with foil and brush it with oil.
2. Crush your biscuits to small bits. I put mine in a plastic seal bag and beat them with my rolling pin until they're ground up.
3. Put your newly crushed biscuits into a bowl and add the mixed spice and melted butter. Mix well until everything is moistened.
4. Use a spoon to transfer the biscuit mixture into the base of the tin and press it down firmly with the back of the spoon, ensure no gaps. You want it to cover the bottom and walls of the tin. Once ready, put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes or until firm.
5. Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F for Amerifriends). Beat the cream cheese until it's smooth, then add the sugar, vanilla essence and lemon juice one by one. Beat until it's smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each.
6. Pour this delicious looking mixture into the tin and smooth the top with the back of a knife as well as you can, then bake for 45 minutes or until the cheesecake is set. It should be firm to the touch and slightly golden.
7. While the baked cheesecake is baking away, make the topping by combining the sour cream, vanilla, and lemon juice, and beat it until smooth. Spread it over the hot cheesecake from the oven and sprinkle it with pinches of nutmeg to your liking, then return to the oven for 7 minutes more before allowing to cool and then refrigerate overnight.

Now you just need to decorate it (slices of strawberries, or a sprinkle of icing sugar) and share it with your loving friends and family (or not).

Oh and be careful when handling it, I've dropped one before.

Enjoy! :)