Kitchen Through The Lens: Key Lime Cheesecake

graham cracker crust

When I originally put key lime cheesecake on my list, I selected a recipe I was sent for a vegan key lime cheesecake but the funniest thing happened.

I remembered I wasn’t vegan.

Also? I like the cream cheese part of cheesecake.

Also? I decided to make this cheesecake as a thank you for the folks who work in my mom’s office for their support – monetary and just general enthusiasm – for my participation in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

So, I made a non vegan recipe.

a graham cracker crumb crust

The kids saw key limes in the store the other day. A one pound bag of key limes? Not too pricey. Cream cheese, on the other hand, kind of is. FYI, I almost always use neufchatel instead of regular cream cheese. I’ve never detected a difference in the quality of cheesecake and because of that, I kinda figure, why not reduce some of the unhealthy where you can?

key limes, i'm not sure what makes you so special?

Dear key limes (and graham cracker crumbs on my counter. Oy).

Not gonna lie, I feel a bit punk’d by the idea of key limes. They’re tiny little lime wannabes that produced very little juice and a whole lotta seeds. And one pound of key limes barely produced the 2/3 cup of key lime juice I needed.

(Later, I found this was okay – I think using the full amount would have made them TOO tart – this was just the right sour)

To juice the key limes with greater ease, I rolled them on the counter first, pressing hard against the lime with the palm of my hand, hoping to kinda squash all that juice out of the pulp.

It sort of worked.

Ugh.

key lime cheesecake

Apparently the difference is that key lime juice is more aromatic and it’s more intense in flavor.

Um. Okay.

The end result (and I only had one bite – I told y’all I was sending this cheesecake elsewhere!) was tasty. It was a nice warm weather kinda cheesecake.

But I’m guessing using regular limes, though far less fancy sounding, woulda been WAY. EASIER.

Life Is Just Better When There’s Cheesecake.

Heath Bar Cheesecake. OH YEAH.

I think it’s safe to say that most of you who have stumbled around this blog before know that I am less-than-skilled in the whole “preparing meals” department. There are some things I cook really well (seriously, I make some pulled pork tacos that actually make me look forward to the next several days – because it’s so good I’ll even eat leftovers!), but for the most part I don’t find much joy in the cooking process.

Baking, on the other hand…

I’m pretty good at baking.

For our family mother’s day gathering yesterday, my cousin sent an email requesting our presence with a note: Hey Sarah, could you bring dessert? *wink wink*

OF COURSE I CAN.

I brought this Heath Bar Cheesecake, and the recipe can be found here. It’s totally fabulous – and this is the second time I’ve made it and the family DEVOURED it. And that made me tremendously happy. Cheesecake is definitely best if you let your cream cheese sit out to soften before mixing. I used neufchatel instead of full-fat cream cheese, and couldn’t discern a difference – though with cheesecake, really? Go big or go home.

DELISH.

Everything Tastes Better As Cheesecake

Gingerbread is one of those flavors that I associate with the holidays. I rarely have anything gingerbread-ish any other time of the year, so by the time November rolls around and the Gingerbread lattes come out, well, I am ALL ABOUT THE GINGERBREAD.

Of course, I love cheesecake too.

The past few days I have been brainstorming how I could mix the two and today – I did it.

The recipe is posted on Wha’Cha Got Cooking (because I suck! I suck! I suck! And I haven’t posted a recipe there in a VERY LONG TIME – though, to be fair – really, you all should feel grateful because I’m not that great of a cook. So it’s really only dessert recipes you want from me anyway).

I had a yummy piece of it and then promptly packed the rest of it up for my husband to take to work tomorrow so I won’t eat any more of it!