It’s 9:30 AM. Thanksgiving. I’m sitting on my couch, laptop in lap, wearing brown knee socks and a Montour High School sweatshirt with my name stitched into it. My cheesecake is baking. I’m watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and drinking coffee. Today, I appreciate living alone.

Moving on.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for having the day off, my cat currently napping instead of tearing apart my umbrella and, as yet, my cheesecake not cracking. Keep your fingers crossed.

I’m having camera issues so we’re going to have very few pictures if any at all. I’m trying to charge the battery but I think my camera has finally kicked the bucket. Let’s hope it charges a bit otherwise I may carry my laptop over to it and take a picture with the built in camera..

After considering what to bake for over a week, perusing hundreds of recipes and finding about 15 with enough potential that I printed them, I narrowed it down to one from a cookbook that I mentioned in a previous entry. It’s the cookbook that I found in Tutu’s basement when she was moving. I used the main filling recipe with a few variations.

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Caramel Apple Praline Cheesecake

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Makes one 9-in cheesecake. About 10 servings

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 large eggs at room temp.
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Variation
Caramel topping
Apple pie filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Stir together graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar and melted butter in a small bowl. Press into bottom of 9 inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

Beat cream cheese, brown sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer or stand mixer until blended. Do not over blend.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Blend in vanilla; stir in chopped pecans. I poured a layer of caramel topping over the crust. Leave about an inch of the outer crust uncovered. Add about 10 apple slices on top. Pour cheesecake batter over crust. Bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees F and continue baking for about 30-33 minutes until set. Turn off the oven, open a crack and let cheesecake sit in there for about 5-10 minutes to allow the cheesecake to cool slowly and avoid cracking. Take out of oven, loosen cake from rim and allow to cool for another 15 minutes. Chill in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. Once chilled, add more apples, any remaining chopped pecans and then swirl some caramel over everything.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake
If you are looking for a dessert to showcase your masterful culinary skills without actually having masterful culinary skills, make this.  It’s quite easy and very, very pretty and impressive looking.

I baked this cheesecake quite awhile ago, probably around May and remembered that I took a few pictures of it.  I was told (though I didn’t get to taste it) that it was quite good so I figured I’d post the recipe.

Baking the cheesecake was the easy part. At the time, I did not have a hand mixer (gasp!) so I used my blender. (Craziness, I know.) But as you can see, it worked out wonderfully. I’ve since purchased a hand mixer and now I’m looking to acquire a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I obviously need this. Did you know that they sell an ice cream maker attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer??? Endless possibilities my friends.

So anyway, back on topic, I did not use a water bath and the top did not crack at all (amazing!) This cheesecake is very sweet and peanut buttery, so I wouldn’t recommend making this for your plain cheesecake loving friends.

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Reese’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

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Serves 10 

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 2/3 cups (10 oz. package) Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips, melted
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Chocolate drizzle (recipe below)
• Extra chocolate and/or peanut butter chips for garnish

Directions:
Heat oven to 300°F.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup sugar, cocoa and butter.  Press into bottom of 9 inch springform pan.

Beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar until fluffy.  Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, then melted chips, until smooth.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Pour over crust.  

Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until center is almost set.  Remove from oven. With knife, loosen cake from sides of pan and let cool.  Garnish with chocolate drizzle (if you like crazy sweet things like myself) and additional chocolate chips.  

Chocolate Drizzle:
Melt 2 tablespoons butter over low heat; add 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons water. Cook and stir until slightly thickened.  Do not boil.  Cool slightly.  Gradually add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, beating with whisk until smooth.  Makes about 3/4 cup.

After the cheesecake was done and cooled, I mixed up the chocolate drizzle to swirl on top. (Note: leave the sides of the spring-form pan in tact. This makes adding additional chocolate chips to the top much easier.)  I used a spoon to just flick the drizzle around to make some swirls.  I then just patted some extra chips (I used the chocolate and peanut butter mixed chips) onto the sides.

Remove sides of pan.  Store covered in the refrigerator.