Banana Cheescake with Caramel Sauce

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

For my hubby's birthday I wanted to mix the two things he loves banana's and cheesecake. Making this cheesecake was really fun, my 3 year old son mashed the bananas. He loves to help in the kitchen.

This was actually one of the easiest cheesecakes to make, it has a long ingredient list but don't let that fool you.

I made everything from scratch but you can do some shortcuts to save you time, instead of making the crust and caramel sauce you can buy them pre-made.

Banana Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cube butter (unsalted)

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Cheesecake:

3 (8oz) packages cream cheese (room temperature)

3/4 cup white sugar

4 medium mashed bananas

3 eggs (room temperature)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Caramel Sauce:

1 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons butter (next time I will try only 5 Tablespoons)

1/2 Cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325° F

2. Butter a 9 in springform pan

3. For crust mix grahamn cracker crumbs, melted butter and brown sugar until well combined. Press firmly into springform pan going 3/4 of the way up on the sides. To get it pressed firmly around the bottom and edges use a cup.

4. Mash bananas

5. Combine your room temperature cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of your mixer, mix until light and fluffy.

6. Add one egg at a time, mixing well between each egg.

7. Finally add mashed bananas and vanilla, mix well.

8. Pour into prepared crust.

9. Bake at 325°F for 1 hour and 5 minutes

10. Once finished turn oven off and don't open the door for an hour this helps the cheesecake set and not crack.

11. Refrigerate for about 3-4 hours before serving.

12. About 30 minutes before serving prepare caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce

1. Heat sugar in a heavy bottomed pan over medium to high heat. Being careful to not burn the sugar. Once sugar starts melting stir continuously until all sugar granules are melted.

2. Once sugar is completely melted add butter stir until butter is also completely melted. Take off heat.

3. After about 30 seconds add heavy cream. Stir to ensure everything mixed well.

4. Let cool a little before serving.

5. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Serve cheesecake with sliced bananas and caramel sauce drizzled over the top.....and don't worry about the calories it is worth it!

PS sorry the pictures are not that great my camera is out of commission and needs to be repaired so I will be using my daughters camera until then.

recipes adapted from  Simply recipes and Allrecipes

Enjoy,

Tiffany