I Win The Eating Contest!

Good morning!  We had a great weekend.  My mom was up visiting for the whole weekend, and I kind of feel like we had a giant food fest.  Seriously….It was as if I entered an eating contest and placed first.  I might try to get a spot on the Biggest Loser Ranch for next season…that is how much we ate.  We had a great time though.  I was sorry to see her goL

I have to make this quick today because today is the day that my baby gets her tooth pulled….a la Shiloh Pitt.  Yep, my 3 year old has to get a tooth pulled and won’t have a front tooth until her permanent tooth grows in.  She is excited for the Tooth Fairy to come….she has no idea that getting a tooth pulled involves a shot and perhaps some pain.  And oh yeah…numbness.  So needless to say I am super excited for this all to happen.  Should be a fantastic day.  Really top notch.  You all could read my sarcasm there, right?

So back to the food….one of the really yummy things we ate while my mom was here, as she loves desserts, was a Honey-Banana-Peanut Butter Cheesecake.  I have always liked peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches.  Soooooo, I figured it would be good in a cheesecake.  But honestly, what wouldn’t be amazing in cheesecake form??  The idea for the cheesecake just came to me one night while I was lying in bed.  Yep, most of my best recipes come to me in the middle of the night.  Weird, right?

This is a baked cheesecake, not one the sets up in the fridge.  I like this kind best.  It tastes more real to me….if that makes sense.

I want to start by showing you the crust.  I decided to change it up a bit and use Nilla Wafers for the crust as opposed to graham crackers.  I feel like they have a more subtle flavor.  I don’t want anything to get in the way of the flavors of the actual cheesecake.

I used Nilla Wafers, butter and a very small amount of sugar.  If you are feeling particularly adventurous, I bet Nutter Butters would be an amazing substitution.

I put Nilla Wafers into my food processor with 3 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 tablespoon of white sugar.  You want to end up with about 1 cup of crumbs…..

You only need to pulse this in the processor a few times…..Just until you see the crumbs start to clump together a bit.

I pressed the mixture into a 9 inch spring form pan.  I just covered the bottom of the pan.  I didn’t go up the sides at all.  A good trick is to use the bottom of a measuring cup to help press down the crust.  This crust doesn’t get pre-baked.

The filling for this cheesecake is lots of softened cream cheese (four 8 ounce packs), sugar, vanilla extract, sour cream, peanut butter and eggs.  We will get to the topping later.

This is so easy to make.  I beat together all of the filling ingredients, except for the eggs.  This is thick!  It will make your beaters work….but better your beaters then you, right?  That was a tongue twister….say it 5 times fast.

Once the mixture is smooth, I added the eggs, one at a time.  Stop lookin’ at the picture!  The eggs came out too fast;)

Once all the eggs are beat in, I poured the mixture over the crust.  This bakes at 325 for almost an hour.  The top will probably crack….which ain’t no thang.  It gets a topping, so really….who cares?

Once the cheesecake is baked, it will need to chill for AT LEAST 4 hours.  Or overnight.  While the cake chills, you can make the topping.

The topping is butter, honey and under ripe bananas.  If they are too ripe, they will just turn to mush when you cook them.  Gross.

I sliced the bananas, about a 1/3 of an inch thick.  And peeled them, but you assumed that, right?

I melted about 3 tablespoons of butter in a large sauté pan.  Then, I added the bananas.  I only cooked them until they browned a bit.  I don’t want to turn them into mush…..I want to caramelize them.  The honey will help with that.  You can add that once the bananas have browned a bit on one side.

Once the cheesecake is chilled, the topping gets poured right over the top.  Do you see the honey running down the side?  Yum!!

This cheesecake was Ah-May-Zing.  So, so good.  The peanut butter goes so well with honey and bananas.  But….if you absolutely don’t like bananas, you could make a chocolate ganache for the top.  If you like bananas, but not honey, you could use brown sugar instead.  And rum!....like bananas foster…..Any way you make this, I promise….you will love it.  It is light and fluffy, but still rich and creamy.  It is cheesecake perfection!

Now I am off to the dentist.  Wish us luck!!!

Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Honeyed Bananas

Crust:

1 cup Nilla Wafer crumbs

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

Filling:

32 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ cup sour cream

¾ cup peanut butter

4 eggs

Topping:

4 to 5 under ripe bananas, sliced

3 tablespoons butter

¾ cup honey

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix Nilla Wafer crumbs with melted butter and 1 tablespoon sugar.  Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.

In a large bowl, beat together (with a hand mixer) cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, sour cream and peanut butter until smooth.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Pour over crust and bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes, or until middle is set.

Chill cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

For the topping:

In a large sauté pan, melt butter.  Add sliced bananas.  Sauté, over high heat, until bananas start to caramelize, about 4 minutes.  Add honey and heat though.  Pour over chilled cheesecake.