Amazing French-style Cheesecake

I have a dessert cookbook by "Sophie" from France that I have never used before. Thomas and I have been hungering for cheesecake and I have never made it from scratch so I checked out Sophie's recipe.

I made it and I have to say it is the most amazing cheesecake-dessert I have ever had. This recipe is definitely on the sweet side and the crust plays just as big a role as the cheese filling.

Here is my rough translation from French, including the substitutions I made:

Crust
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1 1/3 cup Nilla wafers, crushed into crumbs. (or similar cookie)
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup rough sugar (I use the "natural unbleached "sugar)

Filling
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8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
4 eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar (I used the natural sugar, prob could have used white granulated sugar)
1 tsp flour
Zest and juice of one lemon (I didn't have a real lemon so I used a little lemon juice)

Sophie called for a 26cm pan, which I think is one of those shallow round pans that the French use for apple pies and such. They don't have slanty sides. I used a 9" round cake pan.

Preheat oven to 300F
Start with the crust: Smash the cookies if not already smashed. Soften the butter for the crust. In a bowl, mix the cookie crumbs, sugar and butter. Grease the pan. Put the crust mixture in the bottom and mash it down with a glass so that it is flat and covers the whole bottom. Put it in the fridge while it waits for the filling.
Beat the eggs with the sugar. Add flour, zest, lemon juice, and cream cheese. Mix (I used the mixer).
Get the pan from the fridge and pour the filling in. Bake for 50 minutes.
Cool completely before eating.

Et voila! A sweet but elegant-tasting dessert. The crust is divine and the cheese part is light and delicious. It was really hard to stop at one piece.