Monday, November 30, 2009

Sweet potato cheesecake

This year for Thanksgiving we had a dear sweet sister join us from Liberia. Actually we were her host family for two months while she worked with the local university. It was her first Thanksgiving and I wanted to make it extra special.
As I was running around with my husband trying to buy all the ingredients for dinner I ran into a slight problem. Apparently there is a pumpkin shortage and I think I am the only one who did not know this. As I was walking around the store I began to pray silently to the Lord for ideas on what to do now? Funny how He speaks to me as I walk right by the canned sweet potato's. A thought came into my head that went something like this "you could use sweet potato's and make a cheesecake" my next thought "gross" I end up walking down that aisle three more times searching in vain for that one can of pumpkin that I just know has got be there.
I end up buying the sweet potato's.
I will preface this by saying I am little slow sometimes. I get home and don't bother to scan the internet for a recipe I set to work creating it myself. I could have made this much easier on myself!
The cheesecake turned out great and just for grins I searched the internet for a sweet potato cheesecake recipe and low and behold there are dozens of recipes! I wasn't the first to think of it. Here is the recipe I created below. My family loved it!

Marbled Sweet Potato Cheesecake
1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies (put then in a food processor or in a ziploc bag and run a rolling pin over to crush.)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans.
1/3 cup melted butter--the real stuff people
2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup canned sweet potatoes--pureed in food processor or mashed up
3/4 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees
in a medium bowl mix together the crushed gingersnap cookies, pecans, and butter. Press into the bottom, and about 1 inch up the side of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake crust 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Set aside to cool.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla just until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture. Blend 1/4 cup sugar, sweet potato cinnamon, and nutmeg into the remaining mixture.

3. Spread the sweet potato mixture into the crust, and drop the plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.

4. Bake 55 minutes in preheated oven, or until filling is set. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Allow to cool before removing pan rim. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

*It tastes best a day or two after you make it.

Let me know what you think. It was yummy and new classic we will be enjoying again next year, that is unless there is a "sweet potato shortage"