Easter Recipes, Sweets
I went through a phase several years ago when I made cheesecakes all the time. Erin loves it. I have not made one in a very long time, so I made a new recipe for Easter and it was really good. This one is from Southern Living. It has bananas in it and I was afraid they would turn dark if I froze it but they didn’t.
Crust:
1 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/4 cup Land O Lakes butter, melted
17 vanilla wafers
Bananas:
2 large ripe bananas, diced
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
Cream cheese filling:
3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarsely chopped vanilla wafers
Garnishes:
Mini vanilla wafers for garnish
Sweetened whipped cream
Sliced bananas tossed in lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pecans in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Toast in oven for 5 minutes, stir and roast 5 more minutes. Chop pecans. Stir together crushed vanilla wafers, pecans and butter. Spray a 9 inch spring form pan with cooking spray.
Press mixture in the bottom of the pan, then stand 17 vanilla wafers around the outside of the pan pressing gently into crust to secure. Bake 10 minutes.
Combine bananas and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly, 1 minute or just until sugar has dissolved.
Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 minutes or until smooth. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Gently stir in cooled banana mixture into cream cheese mixture.
Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from oven, gently run knife around the edge to loosen. Sprinkle top of cheesecake with crushed vanilla wafers. Cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour. Remove outside edge of pan. Cover and chill for 8 hours. Remove from bottom of pan.
Garnish with sweetened whipped cream (1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 cup whipping cream, beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form), mini vanilla wafers, and sliced bananas.
