The crust after being baked.
Slicing the vanilla beans.
Scraping the vanilla beans into the batter.
The finished cheesecake!Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup ground pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp melted butter
In a bowl, mix together the crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and ground pecans. Add the butter and mix well. Press evenly into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9 in. springform pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 8 minutes or until golden brown.
Cheesecake filling:
1 1/2 lbs. cream cheese softened
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 vanilla beans
4 eggs
2 tbsp heavy cream
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar a few tablespoons at a time then add the flour and vanilla extract. Add the eggs and heavy cream, beating on low until combined. Split open the vanilla beans and scrap out the seeds into the batter. You can save your empty beans to garnish the top of the cheesecake.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the middle of the oven until set. It should bake about 55-70 minutes. Let cool in pan and remove the outer ring of the pan. Refrigerate cake.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse:
1 cup white chocolate chunks
8 oz heavy cream
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Heat white chocolate and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream in a bowl over a pot of simmering water until melted. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. While beating, slowly add white chocolate mixture until smooth. Beat remaining heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold into white chocolate mixture. Spread over chilled cheesecake.
This cheesecake was awesome. It reminded me a lot of the one from Red Lobster. I also added some white chocolate shavings and the used vanilla beans on top. I got my vanilla beans from beanilla.com
