Tasty Pastry Kitchen

Ingredients

Ingredient	Volume	Grams	Ounces
egg yolks	3, from large eggs	-	-
granulated sugar	1/2 cup	100g	-
freshly squeezed lemon juice	1/4 cup + 1 TB	70g	-
unsalted butter	3 TB	42g	-
salt	a pinch	-	-
lemon zest	2-3 tsp	-	-

In a medium non-reactive saucepan, whisk the yolks and sugar until combined.
Add fresh lemon juice and unsalted butter to the saucepan.
Place your saucepan on medium-low heat. Continuously whisk the lemon curd. As the temperature of the curd rises, it will thicken slightly.
The curd is done when it coats the back of a wooden spoon thickly, or if you have an instant-read thermometer, the temperature reaches 196 °F/91 °C.
Add pinch of salt and 2 tsp lemon zest to the warm curd and stir. If you prefer a more tart and sour curd, go ahead and add a little more of the remaining zest.
It will seem slightly loose, but don't worry, it will thicken after it cools a bit. Cover the top surface with plastic wrap while you prepare the rest of the cheesecake.

Ingredient	Volume	Grams	Ounces
graham crackers	about 8 full crackers (about 1 cup of crumbs)	about 35g	-
granulated sugar	2 TB	-	-
salt	a pinch	-	-
unsalted butter, melted	1/4 cup	-	-

Place your crackers in large ziptop bag and use a rolling pin or back of a measuring cup to crush into small crumbs. You can also use your food processor.
Pour the crumbs into a large bowl with the granulated sugar and pinch of salt and stir to combine.
Add the melted butter to your bowl and stir until the butter is evenly distributed. Set aside while you prepare the cream cheese filling.

Ingredient	Volume	Grams	Ounces
cream cheese, original variety, softened	1 cup (one standard package of the block kind)	226g	8 oz
vanilla extract	1 tsp	-	-
powdered sugar	1/2 cup + 2 TB	-	-
heavy whipping cream, cold from fridge	1/2 cup	-	-
blueberries (or other fruit), optional	a handful	-	-

Place your cream cheese and vanilla extract in a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer. Mix on medium-high speed until combined. Add in the powdered sugar. It will be super creamy, should not have any graininess from the powdered sugar and be cream colored. (Perhaps darker depending on the brand of vanilla extract.)
In a separate bowl, whip the cold heavy whipping cream into medium peaks. I usually do this by hand because I'm already using my mixer to make the cream cheese mixture above. It doesn't take that long either; just take a whisk and flick it from side to side in the bottom of the bowl. You'll see the cream start to get thicker in a couple minutes.
Pour the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and use a large spatula to fold everything together.
Line a 12 cavity muffin pan with cupcake liners. Distribute the graham cracker crumbs between all 12 cups. Use a small cup or another muffin pan to press the crumbs down firmly.
Pour the cream cheese filling over the graham crackers. It's fluffy mixture, so I like to use a wet spoon to smooth out the surface.
Pour the prepared lemon curd on top.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but it's really best overnight.
Garnish with fresh blueberries.