Homemade Cheesecake for the Holidays

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner with full bellies and warm hearts. I wrote an open letter about all the things I am grateful for in my relationship titled “Thank You fo Giving” if you missed it you can check it out here.  This year Drew and I were able to spend Thanksgiving with family, eat turkey and stuffing, share laughter and create memories. And most important of all we were able to feast on some homemade cheesecake made by moi haha ;-0

The cheesecake was so good that people had seconds and by the end of the dinner party it was completely gone. There was no leftover cheesecake and that my friends made me so proud.

The recipe I followed is from Keebler, the first time I did the cheesecake a few months ago I bought Graham Cracker Crumbs in a box. However, this time around I bought a box of honey graham crackers so I could smash the crackers into crumbs myself. That part was fun but also a lot of work. But I’m glad I did it because now I can say I made homemade cheesecake completely from scratch. (insert happy dance here…haha)

Because I decided to make my own crumbs I had to tweak the original Keebler recipe just a tad bit.

So without further do here is the recipe for Homemade Cheesecake. I hope you guys try this recipe for your next dinner party, holiday party, birthday party or any kind of party really, because what’s a party without dessert? Let me know if you do, I would love to hear how it went.

Homemade Cheesecake Recipe 

Ingredients

• 1 box of Honey Graham Crackers
• 3/4 cup of butter melted.
• 3 Tablespoons of sugar
• 4 packages of cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons  of cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1-1/3 cups of sugar

Directions

Crust

1. Take the graham crackers and break into smaller pieces and smash them into crumbs with a pilón also known as (mortar and pestle) Smash the crackers till you have a total of 3 cups of Graham Craker Crumbs.
2. Toss the graham crackers in a small bowl, add melted butter and 2 Tbsp of sugar. Mix all together. Reserve 1/3 cup of crumb mixture for garnish. Press the remaining crumb mixture onto the bottom, press firmly with your hand and spread crumb mixture up the sides of your 9inch pie pan. Chill in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

Filling

1. In a large bowl beat cream cheese on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Add 1-1/3 cups of sugar, cornstarch and vanilla.  Beat combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined after each         addition. Stir in sour cream.
2. Pour into crust. Bake at 325·F for about an hour or until center is almost set. Cool on wire rack for 60 minutes.
3. Sprinkle the top with the crumbs you put aside in the beginning. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Garnish with fresh strawberries or your favorite dessert fruit.

I don’t know about you but I get really excited when I make special homemade meals or dishes especially if it’s for the holidays.  What do you get excited to make in the kitchen? Let me know in the comments below and if there is a recipe you think I should try let me know as well 🙂

Happy Cooking!