Passover Lemon Cheesecake

In typical Day 6 Passover-style, I'm maxed out and have had my fill of matzvah and other Passover "goodies" - you know, macaroons, chocolate sponge cake and sweet matzah kugels, that really aren't so great after all. In reality, I'm maxed out after day 1 or 2 but as this holiday and its food restrictions stay with us for a week plus, I'm left with two choices - either succumb to crumbly, dry and overly sweet Passover desserts or take it upon myself to try and break the status quo.

I chose the latter and perused the search results for "Passover Desserts" on Epicurious. This cheesecake popped up as number one in the search results. It makes sense. Think about it, cheesecake does use remarkably few ingredients. The filling is just cream cheese with some accouterments (this filling calls for only 4 ingredients in total- cream cheese, eggs, vanilla extract and lemon zest). And I figured- correctly- that a few Passover substitutions wouldn't ruin a traditional graham cracker crust. The crust is tasty, albeit a bit crumbly, but it does bake up and brown quickly and holds the filling in place. The filling is both sweet and tangy, not overly heavy but still rich. And the strawberries? I figured that even a kosher for Passover cake should be just as pretty as a "regular" one.


I'm confident this dessert will more than suffice for the next few days. Don't you think?

Passover Lemon Cheesecake
Adapted from Gourmet, April 2008

When it's not Passover, a regular graham cracker crust like this one will work well. The Passover recipe called for 3/4 cup ground almonds to be used in lieu of matzah meal. I don't have a food processor that I can use on Passover (if you aren't following, you can read more about the rules associated with cooking on Passover) and with the prospect of grinding almonds by hand unappealing, I followed the suggestions posted by other readers and substituted in matzah meal. I would skip the almonds all together next time and just use the matzah meal.

I also do not have a mixer (Kitchenaid or hand) that I can use on Passover, so I mixed the cream cheese together by hand. As long as the cream cheese is room temperature, it's not that hard to do and will only take about 5 to 7 minutes of mixing to ensure a smooth texture.

For crust
3/4 cup matzah meal
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup matzah cake meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

For filling
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Strawberries, or other fruit, for topping

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Stir together matzah meal, matzah cake meal, sugar, and salt. Stir in butter until combined well, using your hands to mix everything together. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9 inch springform pan. Bake until crust is firm and a shade darker, about 15 minutes. Cool crust completely in pan on a rack.

Make filling and bake cheesecake:

Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

Beat together cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, then reduce speed to low and add in eggs one at at time, then add zest and vanilla. If mixing by hand, add all ingredients to a bowl and mix together for 5-7 minutes until smooth.

Put springform pan in a shallow baking pan (to catch any filling that may leak through the pan) and pour filling into cooled crust. Bake until filling is set 1 1/2 inches from edge but center is wobbly, 45 to 50 minutes (filling will continue to set as it cools). Transfer cake in pan to a rack and immediately run a knife around edge, then remove side of pan. Cool completely, 2 to 3 hours. Decorate the top of the cake with sliced strawberries or other fruit of choice.

Cake will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.