German Chocolate Cheesecake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put water in a kettle (or electric kettle), and set it to boil. This will be used for the water bath.

For crust:

1. Add the almonds to a food processor and pulse a few times to help break them up.
2. Add the graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar to the processor and pulse a few more times until combined and fine in texture.
3. Add the butter and process until moist crumbs form.
4. Press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan - baker's choice.
5. Bake the crust until it is set and beginning to brown and smell toasted, 10-12 minutes.

For cheesecake:

1. Combine cream cheese and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer and cream together until smooth, 5 minutes.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg.
3. Add heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon juice and blend until smooth and creamy, 2 minutes.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place the cheesecake pan into a larger pan (I used a large roasting dish) and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.
5. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
6. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage.
7. Turn the heat off and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top.
8. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill for 4 hours.

For topping:

1. To make the topping place the sweetened condensed milk, butter and vanilla in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and combined, about 5 minutes.
2. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl, and, whisking constantly, add some of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks until combined.
3. Whisk the mixture back into the saucepan, and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens slightly, 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in coconut.
4. Cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use, up to 2 days.

For chocolate sauce:

1. Melt the chocolate with the heavy cream either in a double boiler or the microwave. The chocolate should be a bit on the thin side so you can drizzle over coconut topping.

For topping:

1. After the cheesecake has completely cooled remove from pan and top with coconut topping and drizzle with chocolate. Top with toasted almonds if desired.