Vanilla Bean Cheesecake With Walnut Crust

NcMysteryShopper's Note:

This cheesecake is just plain SEXY. So delicate, sultry and beautiful! A true indulgence for the vanilla connoisseur. The pure white topping so innocently covers the pure decadence! I experienced love at first sight with this cheesecake and I think you will too! Since vanilla, almonds and walnuts are aphrodisiacs, I plan on adding this to my Valentine's Day menu and have posted it here for safe keeping! The recipe was adapted from All-American Sexy Foods by Peggy Cullen. A 10 for total YUM factor! Wine Suggestion: A creamy bubbly, such as Michele Chiarlo Moscato d’ Asti Nivole 2003 is a wonderful combination with this dessert. Or try a dessert Trebianno such as Late Harvest Trebianno.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 5 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 10

Yield: 1.0 cheesec ...

• 1 ½ cups walnut pieces
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter , melted
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (do not use imitation vanilla)
• 2 lbs cream cheese , softened
• 1 vanilla bean , split lengthwise, seeds scraped, preferably Madagascar
• 4 large eggs , at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ½ cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° and butter a 10-inch springform pan.
2. In a food processor or blender, pulse walnuts with 1/4 cup of the sugar until finely ground. Add butter and pulse until the mixture looks like moist sand. Press crumbs into bottom of pan. Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.
3. In a small mixing bowl, mix sour cream with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract. Cover and set aside.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°.
5. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or using a handheld electric mixer, beat cream cheese on low speed with the remaining sugar and the vanilla seeds until JUST combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add remaining vanilla extract and the almond extract. Slowly mix in cream until smooth. Pour batter into pan and bake for 65 minutes or until lightly golden and slightly jiggly in the center.
6. Immediately pour the sour cream topping over the cheesecake and smooth the surface with back of spoon or spatula.
7. Return to oven and bake an additional 5 minutes.
8. Place on wire rack and let cool to room temperature.
9. Run a thin sharp knife around cake and remove the ring.
10. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Remove cheesecake and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Return to refrigerator and leave overnight before serving.

Reviews

[Halima Dances]

This was so good. I made it for a coworker's birthday, and he wanted to know when I'd be opening my restaurant! After reading the reviews, I stuck to vanilla flavoring only, and it was perfect. I did have trouble every time I have made this with my springform pan leaking walnut oil all over the bottom of my oven. I tried 2 different pans and had the same issue both times. I will put a baking sheet full of water underneath the pan next time. I used reduced-fat cream cheese with no noticeable loss of "yum". I also sprinkled the top with sugar and torched it a la "creme brulee" after the cake was chilled. I used vanilla bean sugar the first time but the seeds scorched badly, so plain sugar would be my recommendation. All in all, the best darn cheesecake I have ever eaten. Thank you so much!!!

[Elisabetta47]

Delightful. Low-fat Philly was on sale so I substituted and it still tastes sinfully rich. Not being a huge walnut fan, I used ground hazelnuts and I'm not sure it was the best choice; a little strong. (Update: I made it with roasted ground almonds and it was super. DH requested it as his birthday cake). I particularly love it with freezer mixed berries, defrosted, then warmed with a little sugar syrup. Thanks for a luscious posting.

[Yanni1]

This is definitely a keeper in my house! I went off other reviews and didn't use almond extract and I used pecans instead of walnuts. (this is the first cheesecake I have ever made)