Bake

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake With Biscoff Crust

by:
February 17, 2022
4.6
56 Ratings
Meyer Lemon Cheesecake With Biscoff Crust
Photo by Emily Ziemski
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 45 minutes
  • Serves 10
Author Notes

A friend needed a cheesecake, and so I made one. And not just a plain vanilla cheesecake, this one is flavored with the juice and zest of Meyer lemons. Have you found the Meyer lemons in your supermarket produce section? (I'm asking this question of my local friends, not my California friends, who all seem to have Meyer lemon trees, leaden with fruit, and the "problem" of too many Meyer lemons. )

This is the second year that I've found the lemons in my suburban Kroger, $1.99 a bag. What is the magic of a Meyer, you ask? Well, it's like a lemon, but not. It's like an orange, but not. It's somewhere in between—not quite as tart as the lemon, not quite as bold as the orange, but a pleasant in-between.

For my lemon cheesecake, I used Biscoff cookies for the crumb crust instead of the usual graham crackers. Biscoff have a deeper, more molasses taste that suits the Meyer lemons well. Plus, they are just exotic enough to go with the slightly-left-of-center lift of the Meyers. If you fly Delta, save up your little packs, or just visit Kroger, like the rest of us.

This is the best cheesecake I've ever made. Astute recipe readers will note that it's a riff on the classic Three Cities of Spain cheesecake from Gourmet. That is the best basic cheesecake recipe in the world and is very adaptable. I added the zest and juice of two Meyer lemons for just the right amount of zip.

Updated March 2023: Juice of 2 Meyer lemons is equivalent to 1/4 cup.

Update January 2024: Food52 Test Kitchens gussied up the cheesecake with a cloud of meringue and a caramel sauce. If you give this riff a try, let me know how it turns out.
~ LM —Lucy Mercer

Test Kitchen Notes

We love the combination of zest, juice, and lemon extract, which packs a very lemony punch without too much acidity. The sour cream topping adds a great balance to the richness of the filling and looks lovely flecked with lemon zest. And Biscoff cookies as the crust? Sign us up.

We also love pairing the cheesecake with meringue and a preserved lemon caramel! You can find the recipe here. —Food52

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Biscoff Crust:
  • Cooking spray
  • 5 ounces Biscoff cookies, crumbled
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • Filling & Assembly:
  • 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese (low-fat is okay, no-fat is not)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 1 (16-ounce) carton sour cream (low-fat is okay, no-fat is not)
Directions
  1. Biscoff Crust:
  2. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan. In a food processor, blitz the cookies until finely ground. Add the sugar and salt and continue to process until combined. Slowly pour in the butter and process again until finely ground and just starts to come together.
  3. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
  1. Filling & Assembly:
  2. Heat the oven to 350°F. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add 1 cup of the sugar and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  3. Add half of the zest to the filling. Add all of the lemon juice, vanilla extract, and lemon extract and continue to mix until just combined. Pour the filling into the prepared crumb crust. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the cake is just set in the center. Remove the cake from the oven but do not turn the oven off.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk the sour cream and the remaining 1 tablespoon of the sugar and lemon zest. Spoon the sour cream mixture onto the cheesecake and spread with an offset spatula or knife. Return to the oven and continue to bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until set and warmed through. Let cool to room temperature. Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to separate it from the edge of the pan, if needed. Gently release the springform pan. You can present the cheesecake on the base of the pan. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate overnight. Store the cheesecake well wrapped in the refrigerator.
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Lucy Mercer
I write about gardening and cooking. Garden to Table is my jam. And jam is my jam, too.

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160 Reviews

heather
heather November 16, 2024
Not yet a review but a question- is that whipped cream on top in the first photo? And has anyone tried topping with raspberries whole, not a sauce? Excited to try this.
 
Lucy M.
Lucy M. November 16, 2024
Thanks for your comment, Heather! Food52 added whipped cream and caramel sauce to my recipe. See headnotw for links to those recipes. Photos 2 and 3 are of my recipe as written. Give this a try! I think you’ll love it!
 
Barbgainbarb
Barbgainbarb July 11, 2024
Not a review yet, but I am planning on making this for a friends Birthday while we camp. Can the cheese cake be frozen?
 
Lucy M.
Lucy M. July 21, 2024
Hi, thanks for your comment! I've never frozen a cheesecake, but I think it would work pretty well. I'd recommend cooling the cheesecake to room temperature and wrapping well with freezer wrap and then foil. If you try, I hope you'll come back and share the results.
 
jkbarber
jkbarber May 22, 2024
Best cheesecake ever. Event thought about putting a lemon curd on top but does not need it. My only question to LucyM is there a way to make it just a bit firmer? When I serve at room temperature it gets a bit soft. It holds it shape and everything and I know I am baking it correctly (I made cheesecake all the time) but just wondered if there is a trick to firm it up just a tiny bit?? But love this recipe. I di cut the butter some in the Biscoff crust as my first go round it was a tad soggy.
 
Lucy M.
Lucy M. May 23, 2024
Hi jkbarber, thank you for your question! I'm not a baking scientist, but I think a couple tweaks to try to firm up the texture would be to either bake longer or to reduce the liquid. Perhaps removing an egg or part of an egg would work? Maybe reduce the cream cheese slightly (starting with 2 ounces less). Perhaps a slightly larger baking pan so that the finished cheesecake is thinner? I baked the cheesecake recently and updated the recipe on my guide: https://acookandherbooks.com/meyer-lemon-cheesecake-with-biscoff-crust-recipe/
 
Sarah L.
Sarah L. December 26, 2023
This was incredible. Absolutely will be making again.
 
Lmt9067
Lmt9067 December 8, 2023
I’ve made this so many times, always perfect
 
Erin H.
Erin H. July 3, 2023
I have made this a couple of times now and everyone loves it. The 2nd time I also had some strawberries cut up and on the side for those that wanted to top it off. Love the Biscoff crust. I also had to bake it longer, maybe 10 minutes or so. I'm making it again of the 4th of July get together with Strawberries for a little red. Maybe I should add some blueberries on the side for the blue :>)
 
Lucy M.
Lucy M. July 6, 2023
@erin, thank you for the comment. So glad you're enjoying the cheesecake and I love the addition of fresh berries!
 
michelledudley
michelledudley May 22, 2023
I forget how easy cheesecake and this was delicious. Will make again.
 
Chocolate B.
Chocolate B. May 4, 2023
Best cheesecake ever. It is the birthday cake of choice for my husband, a daughter, and two grandchildren. For this latest iteration, I followed the good advice of several other reviewers and made the crust with the whole package of Biscoff for even more deliciousness.
 
kmadurowicz
kmadurowicz January 18, 2024
did you up the butter if so by how much? Thank you
 
Chocolate B.
Chocolate B. July 20, 2024
Same amount of butter for the crust. I am about to make this cheesecake for the umpteenth time for a grandson’s birthday. No Meyer lemons are available so I’m using regular lemons, which I’ve never done before.

During Meyer lemon season I freeze a quarter cup of juice in tiny canning jars which I then freeze, along with micro-baggies of lemon zest., in case of Meyer Lemon Emergencies during the off season. This works perfectly, but alas, I’ve already used up my supply of frozen juice and zest for the year. That is how popular this cheesecake is!
 
MarieH
MarieH April 28, 2023
My first cheesecake and it was a hit!! I did use 7oz of Biscoff and may use the entire sleeve next time. And also added 10 minutes to the bake time and it was perfect. Put the springform pan on a baking sheet because it does leak butter. Did not affect the taste though. Will be making again before the Meyer lemons go.
 
sophillymak
sophillymak April 27, 2023
This was a perfect cheesecake. And so beautiful. I did drop down the butter and up the cookies in the crust - and baked a bit longer. Made this for a dinner party, and I had to cancel due to illness (guest). I had to give half away to neighbors as we would have eaten it all! They loved it too!
 
Cordelia
Cordelia April 10, 2023
I made this for Easter and it was a hit! I didn't notice on the ingredients to include lemon extra, so I didn't. Still turned out very delicious! I did also have the issue of the leakage from the butter in the crust. But it didn't ruin it. Still yummy! Makes me want to make more cheesecakes in the future.
 
SuzFann
SuzFann April 10, 2023
I made it just as written, and it was delicious! I also made a fresh raspberry sauce to serve alongside, and my guests could not have loved it more.
 
Lucy M.
Lucy M. April 11, 2023
Trying that next ~ raspberry sauce sounds divine!
 
Ccake
Ccake March 5, 2023
first of all i'm not really a baker.....but this came out like i knew what i was doing. all do respect to the chef/author of recipe but i did have to bake longer. i used the extra 10 minute with the five minute addition mention earlier. Also i read that there was too much butter and leakage...i used about 7 oz of biscoff's just cuz they come in packets......used about 3.5 tbls off butter worked great. really a fabulous cheesecake, so light....not a lot of sweet to the sour cream toppping. this would be great in the summer. thank you!!!!! Oh also i did make a water bath and cake was smooth and beautiful
 
Lucy M.
Lucy M. March 6, 2023
@Ccake, thank you! I'm so glad you liked it! I baked this cheesecake again for the first time in several years and agree with your assessment. Less butter or more crumbs in the crust, and a longer baking time. I plan to update the recipe soon. I also made it with ordinary lemons, and the flavor was bright and tart and delicious.
 
margotjane
margotjane March 9, 2022
This turned out great! I made the full crust recipe, but half the filling and baked in a 7-inch springform pan with the higher ends of baking times for both steps.
 
Elizabeth F.
Elizabeth F. September 25, 2021
Just a quick update. The parchment worked very well, adding extra Biscoff, not so much. Just stick with the ratios given.
 
Granniechef
Granniechef September 24, 2021
This cheesecake is awesome, awesome! I added 1/4 tsp cream tartar and one more lemon rind zest to main cake, and for crust I used the whole bag 8.8 oz Biscoff (Delta) cookies, in 8 1/2” springform pan. Wow! A smash at my dinner party.
 
Elizabeth F.
Elizabeth F. March 22, 2021
Hands down best cheesecake ever!!! I agree that it improved with time. I also baked it in a water bath and it was gorgeous! Two things I will do differently next time is one, line the bottom of the pan with parchment to prevent sticking, (and yes, I sprayed it well, but the crust was a bit sticky-maybe I sprayed it too well?) Two, I’m going to double the Biscoff crust because it was so amazingly, perfectly yummy we couldn’t get enough of it.
 
Lucy M.
Lucy M. April 4, 2021
@Elizabeth, thank you for the kind words about this recipe. I love the tip about the parchment in the bottom of the pan! Happy cooking ~
 
cgonzales@comcast.net
[email protected] February 3, 2021
This cheesecake was okay the first day but really really good the 3rd day.
I highly recommend making this in advance and serving several days later.














 
Anusha R.
Anusha R. September 21, 2020
Loved this recipe but the prep/ cook time up top seems way off.
- base to cook: 10 minutes
- base to cool: 30 minutes
- batter: 55 minutes
- sour cream: 15 minutes
 
hankdula
hankdula December 28, 2019
Amazing Cheesecake!!! I also baked it in a water bath. The next time I make it will use half the butter in the crust. Way too much butter; and I used 8oz of Biscoff. I tried to soak some butter up with paper towels before I baked the crust, and after baking the crust there was butter pouring from the pan. Even after baking the cheesecake there was more butter int the water bath pan. Next time I will use 2 or 3tbs butter rather than 5tbs. Overall it is a good recipe. The Meyer Lemons added a more mellow less tart taste to the cake. Thanks.