I made this for a group of friends yesterday. Big hit. Since I am Gluten Free, I did use all almond meal for the crust and left out the flour. I have been making cheesecakes for a while now and I never use a water bath, the wide tin foil is just to expensive for the number of cheesecakes I make. I lower the temp to 300 f. and 3/4 fill my 13×9 glass dish with very hot water, sometimes boiling. It takes longer but works great. The cake raises evenly so I never have the edges rise first and so high they burn and they are always nice and flat on top.. This is the first time I ever bought liquor just to bake with and it was worth it. I would not sub just almond extract since it is too strong..