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Cheesecake with Squirrel Bait® Crust
You can serve this warm…..or can refrigerate and serve later….both methods are equally delicious.
Ingredients
Cake
4 (8oz) Package cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. Vanilla flavor
1 pint sour cream
4 eggs
Crust
1 ¼ cup finely ground Squirrel Bait®
4 Tbs butter
¼ sugar
Dash nutmeg
Dash cinnamon
Preparation:
1. For Crust: In a food processor, pulse the granola for 10 seconds, or until finely ground. Blend other crust ingredients and press firmly into the bottom of a buttered 9 inch spring-form pan.
2. For Cake:
a. Mix the first four cake ingredients in a very large bowl with the 4 yolks from the eggs (reserve the egg whites in a separate medium size bowl). Then use an electric hand blender to blend the mix of cake ingredients this until smooth and creamy (TIP: save a lot of trouble and soften the cream cheese packages very slightly in microwave before adding this to the mix---but careful that you do not let the cream cheese melt or cook while doing this).
b. In the separate bowl--- whip the 4 eggs whites until stiff with a clean electric hand blender.
c. Now gently fold the whites into the blended cake mix and gently by hand with a large utensil or serving spoon until sufficiently mixed in (do not over-mix this or you will lose the loft of the egg whites which makes this a light soufflé-like cheesecake (ex. don’t want the typical thick and heavy as a rock cheese cake)
d. Gently pour the entire cake mix into the granola crusted spring-form pan and bake in oven at 400 degrees for one hour….or until the cake appears done or shows signs of browning edges (depending on your oven). Some ovens may require a bit more time. (TIP: before removing from oven, I turn off oven and open oven door and let cake stand for 10 minutes in the cooling oven to avoid cracking of top cake during removal)
e. NOTE: Cake must sit for a while so that it cools enough to firm up and be transported or to be cut to served.