Southern Pecan Cheesecake

This is all because of Jeff Whitfield (a beloved high school friend). He posted this picture on his facebook wall when he had this cheesecake for his birthday that had me drooling. Since he got it from a shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma where I can’t get to buy a cheesecake I started doing some research about recipes and after reading about 20 recipes. I took tidbits of many and put this recipe together. And holy cow am I glad I did!

Sorry this is so long. It’s a rather involved recipe -

Crust

• 1 cup finely crushed gingersnaps
• 1/3 cup pecans, finely crushed
• 6 TBSP butter, melted
• 2 TBSP brown sugar

For the crust, combine ingredients and press into bottom of spring form pan. (It needs to be a large one if you want one big cheesecake but I used two 7 inch spring form pans and it was perfect with the two. One 7 inch cheesecake feed 6 people with a piece left over. It’s VERY rich.)

Caramel

• 25/26 caramels or half a caramel bits bag
• 6 TBSP sweetened condensed milk

Melt together over low heat. Mix thoroughly. Pour into crust.

Filling

• 3 – 8 oz cream cheese (1 1/2 lbs) – Do not use low fat
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 16 ounces sour cream1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or try using 1 tsp of lemon zest)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Using an electric mixture on low (this matters – stay on low the ENTIRE time. Don’t be tempted to speed it up) beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
3. Continue mixing on low while you slowly add the sugar to the cream cheese.
4. Continue mixing on low while you add one egg at a time, beating after each egg.
5. Add flour, vanilla and lemon juice (or zest) and mix on low.
6. Add in the sour cream and mix on low until completely blended.
7. Pour the mixture into the spring form pan.
8. Bake the cheesecake on the top rack of the 325 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
9. Once the timer goes off, prop your oven door open, turn off the oven and let the cake sit inside the oven for 1 hour.
10. Remove from the oven and let your cheesecake cool in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Here’s the thing about the 24 hours. We ate my first one after about 8 hours. It was to die for. We LOVED it. But the next day? When it had been 24 hours? Unbelievable. It seriously gets better the longer it sits in there. So make this the day before you need it. And trust me – and WAIT.

Topping

The topping – Pecans pan toasted with butter and brown sugar – arranged in a circle. Pan toasted again with the chopped pecans (more butter and brown sugar) and put in the center.

PS – While I pulled all these ideas from several places – the filling is from a copy cat restaurant site – Cheesecake Factory.

Now – for pictures! I should go get Jeff’s picture so you can see where I started from…

Jeff’s Cheesecake:

See why I needed this?

My cheesecakes -