Special thanks to our member Panagiotis Theodoritsis for this delicious and refreshing dessert!
For the crust
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or in the microwave at 800 Watt for 1 minute, in a bowl covered with plastic wrap.
- In a food processor, process the cookies until they are powdered.
- Add the butter and the cookie “powder” into a bowl and mix well with a spatula.
- Spread the mixture into a 24 cm springform pan and press it well with the bottom of a glass.
- Do not press it up the sides, just leave the crust flat.
- Refrigerate the pan for 20-30 minutes, until you prepare the cheesecake filling.
For the cheesecake filling
- In a mixer’s bowl add the ice-cold heavy cream and beat it with the whisk attachment, firstly at low speed for 1 minute, and then at high speed until the cream has a yogurt-like texture. Do not overbeat it as it will split! The time needed for that process depends on how chilled the cream is and on how strong your mixer is.
- In a bowl, whisk the cream cheese with the icing sugar well, until they are homogenized.
- Add the lemon zest and juice to the bowl, by mixing well.
- Add the whipped cream in batches and mix well with a spatula for 1 minute, until incorporated.
- Pour the cream over the crust, smooth its surface with a spatula, and refrigerate it for 3 hours so that the cream chills and thickens or in the freezer for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
For the watermelon sauce
- Add the gelatin sheets into cold water to soak.
- In a saucepan add the watermelon puree along with the sugar, and stir for 1-2 minutes on medium heat until the sugar melts.
- Remove from the heat, drain the gelatin sheets well and add them to the hot mixture.
- Stir well until they melt, and add the vanilla extract and the red food coloring paste.
- Let the mixture cool completely at room temperature, for about 10-15 minutes.
To assemble
- As soon as the cream thickens, spread the watermelon cubes over the whole surface (carefully drain them a little, so that there won’t be any liquid on the cream).
- With a spoon pour over the watermelon sauce, carefully, so that it covers the whole surface.
- Refrigerate the dessert again, until the sauce chills, stabilizes, and becomes a thick jelly, for 1-2 hours.
- Remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator, carefully take it out of the springform pan, and serve with mint leaves.
