Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Rosemary Caramel

This delicious lemon goat cheese cheesecake has a rosemary graham cracker crust and is drizzled with a homemade rosemary caramel sauce.

Grease a 9-inch springform pan by rubbing its bottom and sides with butter.
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (for greasing the pan)
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the rosemary. Set aside.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (for the crust), 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
Whisk crushed graham crackers and sugar together in a bowl.
1 ⅓ cup crushed graham crackers (you need 9 sheets (which is one sleeve) for that), 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pour the melted butter into the bowl and mix with a fork until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
Press the crust into the bottom of the pan.
Set the pan on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is firm, about 10 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven.
Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. for the cheesecake filling. PLEASE DON'T FORGET THIS STEP!

Add cream cheese, goat cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Whip until combined.
16 ounces full-fat block cream cheese,* at room temperature, 12 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Whip in the sugar.
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
Whip in the eggs, one at a time, and continue to whip until the mix is very smooth.
4 large eggs
Pour the batter onto the crust. Bake until the edges of the cheesecake are completely set and the center is only a tiny bit jiggly (50 to 60 minutes).
Let the cake cool completely in the pan.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight, then unmold.

Add the cream and the rosemary sprigs to a saucepan.
¾ cup heavy cream, 2 long sprigs of fresh rosemary
Heat the cream until it starts to simmer, then turn the heat off. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
Press on the sprig of rosemary with the back of a small spoon to release as much rosemary flavor as possible into the cream. Take the rosemary out of the cream and discard.
Transfer the cream to a container you can pour from, such as a liquid measuring cup. Set aside.
Add the water to a very clean, heavy-bottom saucepan.
½ cup water
Add the sugar in a mound into the middle of the saucepan. Be careful not to have any sugar on the sides of the pan.
1 cup granulated sugar
On high heat and without any stirring or touching of any sort, let the sugar/water mix come to a full boil. Be careful, the mix will get very, very hot. Do not touch the pot or the caramel under any circumstances.
Keep boiling the mix on high heat (still without any stirring) until it starts to turn golden brown.
Turn the heat down to medium and continue to boil until the mix reaches a deep amber color.
Turn the heat off.
Standing back, very slowly whisk the cream into the mix. The sauce will bubble violently and is still very hot, so be careful.
Let the sauce cool until you can handle it easily, then fill it into a glass jar and store in the fridge.
To serve, lightly warm up the caramel sauce over a pot of hot water or in the microwave. Drizzle the sauce over the cold cheesecake slices.