Thursday, February 21, 2008

Cinna-a-Bun Cheesecake


I've had the ingredients to make this cheesecake for a while now, but it's one that I just haven't managed to get to until now. Part of my motivation for making it today is that my parents are in town and my mom likes cheesecake and cinnamon raisin cookies, so this seemed to be a perfect combination for her.

This is a great-tasting cheesecake if cheesecake is your thing. The crust is made from cinnamon raisin cookies, topped with a basic cheesecake recipe that is layered with cinnamon raisin cookie crumbles, raisins, cinnamon sugar and caramel sauce. My only complaint was that she tells you to bake it for 45 to 55 minutes, then to turn the oven off and leave it in there for an hour before putting it in the fridge for 6 hours before eating it. I checked to see if it was done after 45 minutes and it looked pretty good so I just left it in there. You can obviously see in the picture that it's not quite done and it never did set up exactly right. It's just something I need to remember with cheesecakes -- check them after the minimum time, but they always seem to bake much longer than the recommended time.

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/2 cups finely crushed cinnamon-raisin cookies (I used archway brand)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp brown sugar

Filling:
1 1/2 pounds (3 packages) cream cheese softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
1 cup coarsely chopped cinnamon raisin cookies
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup cinnamon chips (optional)
1/4 cup butterscotch or caramel sundae topping
1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed with 1/4 cup sugar

Finishing Touch:
Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 325. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

For crust: toss cookie crumbs, butter, and brown sugar together in bottom of an 8-inch springform pan. Press crust into bottom of pan and spray sides with nonstick cooking spray.


For Filling: In a mixer bowl, blend cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream until smooth, scraping bottom and sides of bowl to incorporate everything, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in eggs, vanilla, and flour and blend well 2 to 3 minutes.

Spoon one third of filling into prepared pan and top with half each of chopped cookies, raisins, and cinnamon chips (if using). Drizzle on some butterscotch topping. Dust on cinnamon sugar. Cover with another third of the cream cheese filling and then dust on more cookies, remaining raisins, more cinnamon chips, and more cinnamon sugar (you do not want to have raisins on top because they can scorch).

Add last bit of filling and finish top of cake with cookie crumbs, cinnamon chips, and a nice dusting of cinnamon sugar. You want to end up with a streusel-looking topping.

Bake 45 yo 55 minutes. Turn off oven, open oven door, and let cool in oven 1 hour before removing to fridge. Chill cheesecake at least 6 hour or overnight before serving.

Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

this can only be from for your extreme cookbook :)

-jb

biscuitpusher said...

yup -- from the extreme book. :)

mira said...

hahaha this was good, though overly sweet for me. but i think that's usually the case with all cheesecakes for me. a little overly sweet and rich for my un-sophisticated palate.

in any case, it also kinda got mixed together with the bread pudding cuz i was a piggy and stuffed it all in the same cup. :D