Bananas Foster Cheesecake

Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 25 mins

Ingredients

• 11 vanilla sandwich cookies, crushed
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 5 teaspoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2/3 cup pureed banana (2 small bananas)
• 3 tablespoons banana schnapps (or other banana liqueur)
• 3 tablespoons dark rum
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Recipe

• 1 in a mixing bowl, combine crushed cookies and melted butter. lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter and press the crumb mixture in it. (instead of the vanilla cookies, a tasty variation that works well is 3/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 cup ginger snap cookie crumbs.).
• 2 in a mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese, brown sugar, corn starch, and cinnamon with an electric mixer. add eggs and yolk and mix well. purée banana in a food processor. mix puréed banana, banana liqueur, rum, and vanilla extract into cheese mixture with mixer. pour the cream cheese mixture over the crust.
• 3 bake at 350 degrees f for 15 minutes.
• 4 without opening the oven, lower the temperature to 225 degrees f and continue baking for 70 minutes, or until the center no longer jiggles when you gently shake the springform pan.
• 5 remove the cake from the oven, close oven door, and gently run a knife all around the inside edge of the springform pan to prevent the cake from sticking to it and causing cracks. if cake is still a little wet in center, place it back in the oven for another 30 minutes with oven turned off. it will continue to cook gently as oven cools.
• 6 remove cheesecake from oven and cool completely to room temperature.
• 7 cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. cooling to room temp prevents moisture from forming inside plastic wrap. even cheesecakes that seem a little jiggly in the center will firm up nicely after refrigeration.
• 8 enjoy!