Crust
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
20 Nilla wafer cookies crushed
Filling
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese
2 cups organic cane sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh blueberries
Preparing the crust
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Place a 9-by-1 1/2-inch cake pan partially filled with 4 cups of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven (the bottom rack should be at least 3 inches below the center rack). Coat the inside of a 9-by-3-inch spring form pan with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Set aside. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, chop the cookies in two batches. Pulse each batch until all the cookies are in crumbs (the total should yield 2 cups crumbs). Transfer the crumbs to a 2-quart bowl. Combine the cookie crumbs with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Mix by hand until the crumbs bind together. Press the crumbs around the buttered sides of the spring form pan, then onto the buttered bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the freezer until needed.
Make the Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake:
Place cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat on low until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add flour, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add 2 eggs and beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining 4 eggs and beat on medium for 2 minutes. Once again, scrape down the sides of the bowl (all this mixing and scraping creates a beautifully smooth cheesecake), Add lemon juice and mix on low for 1 minute. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the batter until it is smooth and thoroughly combined. Pour the cheesecake batter into the prepared spring form pan, spreading evenly. Place the spring form pan onto a baking sheet with sides (the pan will remain on the baking sheet throughout the baking and cooling). Sprinkle 1 cup blueberries over the top of the batter. The weight of the blueberries should cause them to sink to various depths in the batter (if the berries do not sink, distribute them with a little more force – somewhere between a sprinkle and a pitch). Place the baking sheet with the spring form pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. Lower the oven temperature to 225 degrees F. and bake for 1 hour. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees F. and bake the cheesecake until the internal temperature of the cheesecake filling reaches 175 degrees F., about 1 1/2 hours. (The timing depends on how frequently you peek at the cheesecake. If you open the oven door more often than necessary, it may take an additional 30 minutes or more for the filling to reach the desired temperature.) Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cool on the baking sheet at room temperature for 1 hour. Refrigerate the cheesecake for 12 hours (do not remove the cake from the pan) before proceeding.