Sunday, June 3, 2007

Praline Cheesecake

My first real cheesecake! *squeal* It was really good! I have dreams of cheesecake, it is my favorite dessert. If I could only have one food for the rest of my life...it would be cheesecake. So making this was a big deal. The only previous cheesecakes I have made are the ones that you don't bake. I didn't change anything except for the praline sauce. I added about 2 T of butter, to make it more praline like. The easy way to slice this is to use floss! Use the unflavored, waxed kind. Pull out a length long enough to wrap around your hands andpull tightly to slice through the cake, sawing back and forth slightly, when it is all the way through, pull out the other end, it crumbles the crust to pull it back up. Repeat, until you have as many as slices as you want!

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Praline Cheesecake


Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Praline Sauce:
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. Pat this mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring form pan.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and granulated sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, and then beat in the vanilla. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the topping: In a bowl, mix the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Spread this mixture over the warm cake and return to the oven for 4 minutes. Let the cake cool to room temperature in the pan, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. At serving time, use a table knife to loosen the cake from the pan. Remove the sides of the pan and place the cake on a platter, leaving it on pan bottom. To make the praline sauce, in a small heavy saucepan stir together the brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the corn syrup and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the nuts and vanilla. Cool slightly. Serve the cheesecake, passing the sauce in a bowl with a small ladle. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

3 comments:

Carrie said...

That cheesecake looks awesome

~Amber~ said...

This looks really good!!

Deborah said...

Aw, congrats! Cheesecake is a hard thing to tackle, looks like you did a great job! :)