Lemon Cheesecake with Blackberry Topping

For the Crust:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly butter the sides of an 8 inch springform pan.

Place Walker's Stem Ginger Shortbread cookies into a food processor and process until they become crumbs with no large pieces. Stir in the melted butter and press the mixture evenly over the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan.

Place the springform pan on top of a flat baking pan or cookie pan. Bake the crust for about 5-8 minutes or until it starts to brown a bit around the edges.

For the Cheesecake Filling:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in the sour cream.

Add in the beaten eggs, in a slow stream and mix until well combined.

Scrape down the bowl, and stir in lemon juice, zest, and vanilla.

Pour into baked ginger crust and place in oven. Immediately turn heat down to 300 degrees F and bake for one hour.

For Cheesecake Topping:

Turn oven off. Crack open the oven door and let cake sit in the oven for another 30 minutes. Remove cake from the oven and set on rack while mixing up the topping.

Set oven temp to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine all three ingredients, mix with a spoon until smooth.

Spread the mixture over top of baked cheesecake. If your cheesecake has any cracks on top, use the topping to fill them in.

Bake until set, about 10-15 minutes. Allow cake to cool for several hours before removing side of springform pan. Chill until ready to serve.

For Blackberry Topping:

Place 1 1/2 cups of the blackberries into a small sauce pan.

Add the rest of the ingredients, cook over medium high heat until the berries release their juices, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining blackberries. Top the cooled cheesecake with the blackberry mixture.

Cheesecake can be wrapped closely in plastic and refrigerated for about four days or frozen two weeks.