“The only way cheese is dessert is when it’s followed by the word cake.”
-Michele Gorman, Single in the City-
BANANA PUDDING CHEESECAKE
Via Flickr
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup Challenge butter, melted
- 17 vanilla wafers
- 2 ripe bananas, diced
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2-3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 3 (8-ounce) packages Challenge cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- whipped cream and vanilla wafers for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, stir together crushed vanilla wafers, chopped pecans, and melted butter. Press into bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan.
- Stand 17 vanilla wafers around edge of the pan with rounded sides facing outward. Press them gently into the crust.
- In a small saucepan, combine bananas (both diced and mashed) and lemon juice. Stir in brown sugar, using 2 tablespoons if your bananas are super ripe and 3 tablespoons if they are medium ripe. Cook over medium heat until brown sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
- Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Gradually add granulated sugar.
- Add eggs, one at a time and stopping to scrape down sides of the bowl after each addition. Do not overbeat. Only beat until most of yellow disappears before adding next egg.
- Beat in vanilla extract.
- Stir banana mixture in until evenly mixed. Pour batter into springform pan on top of the crust.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until center, is almost set. Jiggle the pan to check.
- Turn oven off, open door about 6 inches and leave cheesecake in the oven to cool for about 1 hour.
- Remove cheesecake to counter to cool for another 30 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours before serving.
- Garnish with whipped cream and vanilla wafers.
Recipe Notes:
- If you’re a huge fan of vanilla wafers, try adding 1/2 cup coarsely chopped vanilla wafers to the batter.
- You can leave the pecans out of the crust if you wish. Add maybe 1/4 cup more vanilla wafer crumbs.
Source: cokinghappy.com