My DH came across this recipe in a Woman's Day Magazine a when we were dating.( He actually proposed to me that weekend after Thanksgiving) He made this for Thanksgiving right before our engagement and he has made it every year since. The recipe is a little long, but the credit of the Recipe goes to the Woman's Day Author who wrote it. Its from the Nov. 2004 issue. This cheesecake is to die for. Oh so good, and rich, a small sliver will suffice.I modified it to how we make it. The original recipe calls for Oreo crumb crust. We have made a few modifications in this recipe its mainly using different chocolate and regular fat sour cream and added an extra egg and block of sour cream.
Crust:
1 1/2 C crushed Gram cracker crumbs
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
4 bricks (8 oz pkgs) cream cheese
1 C sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch
4 large eggs
1/2 C sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract (we use the real deal)
1 C or 6 oz. of Milk Chocolate chips melted and cooled.(We use Ghriadelli)
1 C of "real" canned pumpkin
1 Tsp pumpkin pie spice
Chocolate Glaze:
3oz of Ghiradelli bittersweet baking chocolate.
2 Tbs unsalted stick butter
1 Tbs light corn syrup
Garnish:
a small amount of sliced almonds (optional)
According to "Food Lovers Tiptionary" ( I highly recommend this book to any cook)when making a cheesecake, take out the cream cheese and get it to room temperature to make easy to mix together, also taking your eggs and letting them get to room temp as well helps. We have done this and found it bakes better.
Instructions:
Pre-Heat oven to 350. grease bottom and sides of pan well.
Crust: crush up Gram crackers and place crumbs in small bowl stir in butter till all crumbs are moist. Press into bottom of pan. Bake 8 to 10 min. Set aside and cool. (the original recipe calls to wrap the cake pan in heavy duty foil so that the cheesecake sits in a water bath. We had issues doing this and cakes have been ruined so we use the large roasting pan and fill it with water and place the roasting pan of water on the bottom rack so that the water evaporates and gives the oven moisture)
Filling: Beat softened cream cheese, sugar and cornstarch together on medium speed until smooth scraping sides . (Careful to not over beat it, too much air will cause the cake to sink and crack when baking.) Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mix each egg in thoroughly before adding next egg mix until blended. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.
Divide batter evenly between 3 bowls. stir in melted milk chocolate in first bowl of cream cheese batter , add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to second bowl of batter and whisk. Carefully pour chocolate cream cheese batter into crust in a even layer and smooth out with a spreader.Carefully add pumpkin cream cheese batter as not to mix layers too much, then pour third batter bowl of cream cheese batter on the top layer.
At this point it's ready to bake, you can do a water bath with your pan if you know how, or just place the cake pan on the top rack of the oven.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours or until it doesn't jiggles when shaken gently. (the less you open the oven the better) Once it is set, turn off oven and let cool inside oven for 1 hour. Once it has cooled for and hour, pull it out and let cool on a rack, place in fridge to cool for 4 hours. (if you cake is cracked, don't worry about it the glaze will cover the cracks)
Chocolate Glaze:
Place baking chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan, over low heat, until the glaze is melted and smooth remove from heat and let cool for just a minute or so. Grab your heavenly cheesecake out of the fridge and place on a platter or cake stand and gently pour the chocolate glaze on the top of the cheesecake and spread with a spreader. If the glaze goes over the edges that is ok. Garnish with a few sliced almonds on top once glaze has cooled a bit. Place cake in fridge, and let cool until the glaze hardens.
Voila! You are finished, make sure to save a slice for yourself because it will go quick! Let me know if you try the recipe what you thought of it.
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