Best cheesecake EVER

Nick isn't much of a cake person (what is that?) and prefers pie and cobbler.... however, cheesecake is a different story. He loves it, and requested one for his birthday dessert. I love a good cheesecake myself (hell, I love anything remotely resembling any kind of cake), so I was totally fine with it. I mean, what's not to love? Cream cheese, sugar... that's essentially it. Yum.

I don't have a recipe here, so I was browsing the internet and stumbled upon recipes for cheesecakes with sour cream toppings. Then, it dawned on me - the recipe my mom has always used calls for a sour cream topping! That recipe makes a super delicious cheesecake, and nothing beats a recipe from your childhood, so I called my mom and wrote it down! It is now copied in my personal cookbook so I will always have it to make for Nick and myself (and future generations of course).

Here's what you'll need:

Crust:

- 2 c graham cracker crumbs

- 1/2 c butter, melted

Filling:

- 2 lbs cream cheese, softened

- 1 c sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1/2 tsp almond extract

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Sour cream topping:

- 2 c sour cream

- 3/4 c sugar

- 1/2 tsp almond extract

- juice of 1/2 lemon

For the crust, it helps to put the graham crackers in a big ziploc bag and crush the living daylights out of them. It also makes less mess! Combine your crumbs and melted butter and press into the bottom and sides of a springform pan.

For the filling, beat your cream cheese til soft. Then add the rest of the ingredients and beat until combined, but be sure not to over-beat! Pour over your crust in the pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

While your cake is baking, combine the sour cream, sugar, extract, and lemon juice. After the first 30 minutes, take the cake out and spread the topping on top. Put it back in the oven and bake for 8 more minutes.

Take it out and let it cool on the counter for awhile, then cover and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. Yum!

I also made a raspberry sauce to go over the top. For that, you just need 1 pint of raspberries, a 1/4 c sugar, and 2 tsp lemon juice. Put all of those ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook it and mash it together til it just begins to boil. You can strain yours, but I liked the raspberry chunks in mine, so I left them! It makes for a little something extra special on top!