No one will miss the pie once they take a bite of this delicious Pecan Pie Cheesecake. It’s easy to make too!
Until now, Chocolate Cheesecake was my favorite. Followed up by Mocha Cheesecake. Pecan Cheesecake wasn’t even in the running. No way. But today’s recipe won me over and is now one of my favorite cheesecakes ever. It’s tangy, sweet and has a touch of toasted nuttiness – perfect!
It doesn’t get much simpler than this. The cheesecake filling has only four simple ingredients and the cheesecake is super smooth and delicious. Usually I think more complicated recipes yield the best results, but this simple recipe made with a simple cooking technique is easy enough for any home cook. Really, no water bath, no special tenting, no fuss at all for such a delicious cheesecake.
You can use store bought caramel or you can use the simple caramel recipe below that doesn’t even need a candy thermometer.
The only special thing you need, really, is a springform pan like this one. It’s the only way to get a cheesecake out of the pan and still have it looking nice. Trust me on that. I found out the hard way!
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Pecan Pie Cheesecake
No one will miss the pie once they take a bite of this delicious Pecan Pie Cheesecake. It’s easy to make too!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
CRUST
- 2 sleeves honey graham crackers
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
CHEESECAKE FILLING
- 2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla
TOPPINGS
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup caramel sauce (homemade or store bought)
1 CUP CARAMEL SAUCE (HOMEMADE OR STORE BOUGHT)
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Make crust: Mix 2 sleeves of graham crackers and butter in food processor. Mix until there are no large cookie chunks. Pour into springform pan, pat down with spatula or your fingers.
Cheesecake Filling
- Make cheesecake filling: Mix together cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla with stand or hand mixer. Beat until well incorporated and there are no more lumps.
- Pour cheesecake filling over crust. Place springform pan over baking sheet (to make sure butter doesn’t drip out of springform and cause burning or fire in your oven) and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Cheesecake is done when sides pull away from pan. Middle will be a bit wiggly (it won’t be completely set in the middle), but that’s fine. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake in oven with the door open until the cheesecake is room temperature. Refrigerate for 4 hours.
Topping
- About 10 minutes before serving, or once cheesecake is cooled, make caramel sauce: Add heavy whipping cream, brown sugar, butter and vanilla to a pot. Cook over medium-low heat.
- While caramel sauce is cooking, put pecans in skillet over medium-low heat. Set timer for 7 minutes.
- Alternate stirring caramel and pecans to ensure neither burns. Caramel will have consistent bubbles and will thicken up a bit. Check caramel at 7 minutes. If it’s thickened then take off heat source. If not, cook up to 2 more minutes.
- Pour caramel over cheesecake. Sprinkle with toasted pecans.
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