CARLA'S CHEESECAKE INSPIRED BY Le Village

Crust:

2- 7 ounce boxes of Speculoos cookies (Trader Joe's)
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, melted
1/2 cup  brown sugar

Cheesecake:

3 large 8 oz. boxes organic  cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup organic sour cream 
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 large organic eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Heat oven to 350. Coat bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with butter.

In a food processor, finely crumble the cookies . Process for 1 minute and transfer to a bowl.  Drizzle butter over the mixture, add brown sugar, and use a fork to mix until well moistened. Put crumbs into the pan, spread and press them into an even, lightly packed layer. Bake 10 minutes and remove from oven to cool.

Now preheat the oven to 500 degrees

Beat cream cheese and 1 cup sour cream until fluffy about 3 minutes.  With mixer going, add sugar in a steady stream until well mixed. Whisk together eggs, vanilla and lemon juice and add to cream cheese mixture. Beat until very smooth. Pour it over the crust and smooth the top. Bake for 10 minutes at 500 degrees,  then lower the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for another 1 hour and 15 min.

Remove from oven and cool.  While cooling, mix 2 cups sour cream with 1/4 cup sugar (add more sugar if you like it sweet).  When the cake is cool, spread the sour cream mixture over the top (like icing) and place in fridge.  Cover and let it sit for at least 4 hours in fridge. When ready to serve, slide a knife around the outer edge of cake in the pan and then remove the side of the springform pan.  Enjoy!