Recipe: Vanilla Bean Cheesecake (repost)

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
Board: Copycat/Restaurant Recipe Requests at Recipelink.com
From: Gladys/PR 10-22-2003

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST:
1 1/2 cups of graham craker crumbs
( 1/4 cup of ground pecans if you have them)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
6 tablespoons of melted butter

CHEESECAKE FILLING:
1 1/2 pounds of cream cheese (softened)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 vanilla beans from Glenbrook Farms
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix together the crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, ground pecans if you have them. Add the butter and mix well. Press evenly into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan.

Bake about 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar a few tablespoons at a time, and then the flour, vanilla extract. Add the eggs and heavy cream, beating on low speed until it is all combined.

Split open your vanilla beans and scape out the seeds and guts inside the bean. Add this to your batter. (save your split beans to garnish the top of the cheesecake).

Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the middle of the oven until set, the center should be slightly soft. It should bake for 55-70 minutes. Remove from the oven, loosen the outer ring and let cool in the pan.

Refrigerate the cheesecake, for about 6 hours, then remove the outer ring. Top with the vanilla beans and a sprig of something green like peppermint leaf.