Lemon Oreo Cheesecake Slice

You know it's going to be a good day when you walk in to work and see this sign: "Please take a lemon. Free to a good meal!" That was just too good to be true! I asked Mr Rabbit if I could take a couple of these enormous lemons he had plucked from his Dad's lemon tree and he replied, "Take three!" It was kind of awesome. I was suddenly stuck with the lemon dilemma, what to do with them? Lemon curd seemed the most obvious choice at the time.

A ♥ for the boy who was cranky with me

While making up this wonderful lemon curd with my super juicy lemons, I came across a great looking lemon cheesecake square recipe. I'm such a sucker for slices and cheesecake, it was too good to resist. I also remembered Billy from A table for two mentioning the idea of using oreo biscuits as a cheesecake crust and have been craving it ever since. I was a bit apprehensive at the idea of mixing citrus with a chocolate crust, then I remembered Karen's amazing chocolate lime brulee tart so I waved off the worry and gave it a go.

Lemon Oreo Cheesecake Squares
(adapted from the Golden Book of Patisserie)
For the base:
160g oreo biscuits (or any other biscuit of your choice)
1/3 cup (90g) butter melted

For the cheesecake:
250g cream cheese
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
5 tbsp lemon curd
3 tbsp cornflour
1 large egg, lightly beaten

For the lemon curd:
1/3 cup (70g) caster sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, cubed

Prepare the lemon curd first; Stir the sugar, lemon juice and zest in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Beat the egg yoks in a heatproof bowl and gradually add the hot lemon mixture. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.

Return to the heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Remove from the heat and add the butter cubes, one at a time, stirring until fully combined. Cover mixture with baking paper and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Butter or line a 23cm square baking pan. Place biscuits in a food processor and pulse to fine crumbs. With the processor on low speed, gradually add the melted butter until well blended. Firmly press the mixture into the prepared pan to form a smooth, even layer.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed until smooth. Beat in the lemon curd, corn flour and egg. Spoon the topping over the cookie base. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Cool completely before cutting into squares (I refrigerated it for a couple of hours first).

The only problem here was that I had made my curd up earlier and made it not very sour, so that it was lovely on its own, but paired with the dark oreo crust the lemon did not come through as much as I would have liked. If I had the chance I would have made the curd used for this cheesecake slice much more lemony so it balanced well with the very strong flavour from the oreo biscuits. Or I would go back to my favourite ginger nut crust ;) The contrast of the light cheesecake with the dark crust was very pretty though, and these pop-in-your-mouth morsels were well appreciated by my workmates, including Mr Rabbit who was pleased to see the lemons going to good use!