Prep time: 110 min

Serves: 8

Ingredients:
Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs or cookie crumbs
½ cup melted butter
5 tablespoons sugar

Custard
1½ pounds Tnuva’s Quark Cheese (white Israeli cheese)
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
½ cup heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 whole eggs
Pinch of kosher or sea salt

Instructions:
Crust:
1. Mix crumbs, butter, and sugar together. Reserve half cup of mixture for topping cheesecake. Press remaining crumbs into the bottom of the springform pan. Chill the crust while making the filling.
Custard:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Either by hand or in a mixer at low speed, combine cheese, sugar, sour cream, heavy cream, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, eggs, and salt. Try not to whisk any air into the custard.
3. Pour into chilled crust. Place cheesecake into oven. Bake at 350°F for 40 to 50 minutes or until the center of cake is just a bit jiggly. Sprinkle reserved crumbs on top of cake and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
4. Turn off the oven and crack open the door. Allow cheesecake to cool in hot oven for 30 minutes.
5. Remove cheesecake and chill for 4 hours or overnight before serving.