OK, we're off the topic of cheesecake, but I just wanted to mention that I believe nut flour is the same as finely ground nuts (like pulverized in a coffee mill or in a food processor, not the hand-crank nut grinder you would use to make chopped nuts for cookies).

Maybe I'll see you over in the Recipe Board later!

I made this for the first time tonight. I substituted DaVinci' s vanilla for ALL of the Splenda. It really has a creamy texture, it cracked just a little but I liked that look. However, mind just didn't taste that sweet. More creamy/cheesy than sweet. But I think we were expecting super sweet high carb type taste... I did crush up some strawberries and soak with some splenda for a bit and served that on top. Yum. I loved the cheesecake. I wanna try adding a coffee flavor to the cheesecake next time w/maybe a chocolate flavor to the crust. I think it would be good...

That said, I'll definitely make it again.

Cheesecakes crack and/or sink when they cook unevenly. If the heat is too high, the outer part of the cheesecake will cook before the center. Once it cools, the cooked and undercooked parts of the pie will crack apart.

1. To control how fast heat enters the sides of the cheesecake, you have to put the pie pan into the pan of boiling water. Water doesn't get hotter than 212 degrees F, so this creates a buffer.

2. To cook the pie more slowly, preheat the oven and bake at 300 degrees F. After 25 minutes, open the oven a crack and turn off the heat. Let the cheesecake stay there for a couple hours, or until the surface feels like it's at room temperature.

Ta da! No cracks!

ETA: Oops. I forgot one other important thing. If you beat too much air into the cheesecake it'll puff up in the oven and sink as it cools, creating a crack or a crater. To prevent this, soften your cream cheese in the microwave for a few seconds, and hand mix everything with a wire whisk. Forget the electric mixer.

Wow! This girl sounds like she knows what she's talking about! Thanks for the tips.

Kris - I have made this with SF DV Kahlua for the "coffee flavor" and it was WONDERFUL!! Drizzled with a bit of Walden Farm SF Chocolate Syrup and a dollop of whipped cream - yummmmmmmm!!!

I just made this for the third time, and it had a huge crater. I forgot the water bath!

Anyway, it's delicious as always. This time I mixed some of the batter with two teaspoons of instant coffee granules, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a splash of SF butter toffee syrup. I swirled that into the rest of the pie. If my mom likes it, this is how I'll do it from now on!

I never bake my cheesecakes in a water bath. I bake them at 300 degrees covered with foil until almost done. No cracks, no browning.

Wow! This is one LONG thread! Okay, so I never come to the recipe forums...because it's too much temptation!! BUT, my birthday is coming up and I want PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE!!!

I've searched this thread for awhile now, and can't find a peanut butter "variation" to this recipe...any suggestions?! How much PB? Should I omit or replace anything?

ALSO, most important...I would prefer to use stevia. Anyone try this?? How much would you suggest??

I'm hoping some "bakers" can help me out here, I do not bake...because I have NO willpower!

-Julie

Hi, Julie! Yes, it IS a long thread.

Mmmmm. A peanut butter cheesecake drizzled with SF chocolate sauce. HEAVENLY!!!

SOMEONE PLEASE RESPOND TO JULIE'S QUESTIONS, CUZ WE ALL WANT TO KNOW!!!!

I don't use Stevia, so I can't advise you on that.

Maybe just start with the basic recipe and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of SF peanut butter to the batter and see if you like the taste?

Then definitely report your findings!

I tried these again using mini muffin liners and tin. It is to take to work for a bake sale in the am.

The first time I tried this many months ago I just happened to have a type of liner that was foil on the outside and claimed you could use it without a muffin tin. This time I had plain, paper liners that my friend picked up.

I would definitely recomend using the foil ones. They hold in moisture much better. The paper ones ended up getting very soggy. Since this is for a charity sale and not just home use, I ended up taking them out of the paper they were baked in and putting them in fresh liners. It looked much more presentable this way.

The first pan I under-baked slightly. I found that for mini muffin cheesecakes it needs to bake for 35 mins and have a pan of water in the bottom.

The ones where I added extra Davincci to the base batter came out soggier then the rest and not as firm. For those adding syrup, maybe cut down on a liquid somewhere else.

In one small portion I put in a little bit of sugar free vanilla pudding. The batter on these came out extremely thick to where I had to more spread them in the liners instead of pour, but it tasted great.

The chocolate, kalua ones I thought I would be disappointed in since the batter didn't taste of chocolate that strongly. When cooked, however, the chocolate taste came out much better.

I tried mixing in some SF spiced cranberry sauce to some for a tart/sweet taste. The sweetness of the cheesecake and slight tartness of the cranberries kind of canceled each other out instead of complimenting each other.

Flavours I have done so far

Vanilla (SF pudding)
Orange (small amount of SF drink powder)
Mocha (cocoa and kalua Davincci)
Irish cream (irish cream Davincci with a touch of almond extract)
Pumpkin (pumpkin puree, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves)
Spiced Cranberry
Raspberry (SF smuckers raspberry preserves swirled in)
Black Berry (same as above)
Hot fudge swirl (smuckers SF hot fudge topping)
Caramel (Walden Farms Caramel dip swirled in)

So far the best batter was the pumpkin, followed by the orange one.

After cooking the Vanilla pudding one was only so-so, and impossible to remove from the papers. I think I should of left out the melted butter to help with the sogginess issue as well. My final batch is a plain one. The cranberry ones taste good after cooking suprisingly.

Peanut butter cheesecake -

All the recipes I have found for regular PB cheesecake have just called for about 3/4 cup peanut butter to be mixed in to the batter at the same time the cream cheese is. Some add chocolate chips and one puts in a dash of cinnamon.

If you are using natural peanut butter, make sure to stir it really well first. Add oil if needed to get it to the consistency of regular PB. If you add oil you might want to omit the melted butter part of the recipe, depending on how much you add.

To get it smooth and well blended I would say use a mixer instead of trying by hand. Here is another recipe for a layered peanut butter cheesecake. You could do the peanut butter layer using powdered splenda or a sugar alcohol and brown debisweet sweetener for the brown sugar.



http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/r...heesecake2.html

Well, you're sure the mad scientist! Look at all those variations! It's actually been ages since I've made a cheesecake, but your variations have my mouth watering.

For the peanut butter one, you could always divide the batter in half, and stir/beat in peanut butter in one half. Either dollop or spread on top of the plan layer. Might be good!

YUM!!!! Thanks for this recipe!! I made half pumpkin and half caramel swirl. I swirled them together. I baked in an LC gingersnap cookie crust. This will be my Thaksgiving dessert. I used the Steel's caramel sauce made with Splenda. Thanks again

I'm going to make several different variations of this tonight or tomorrow in a muffin pan.

pumpkin cheesecake - pureed pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices mixed into the batter

lemon ginger cheesecake - lemon zest, fresh grated ginger, and lemon extract mixed into the batter

caramel swirl cheesecake - a swirl of Walden Farms' zero-calorie caramel sauce thickened with a bit of batter

chocolate swirl cheesecake - a swirl of Walden Farms' zero-calorie chocolate dip thickened with a bit of batter (I would use cocoa powder but I'm on induction)

raspberry swirl cheesecake - a swirl of Walden Farms' zero-calorie raspberry spread

coconut cardamom cheesecake - coconut extract and ground cardamom mixed into the batter

I have no idea if cardamom and coconut go together... We'll see. I also want to try raspberry lemon and maybe lemon cardamom. What would really be yummy is cardamom and bergamot oil, the flavoring in Earl Grey tea. I just don't know where to find bergamot oil... I doubt a strong brew of Earl Grey would work well.

Here's a start for your search, at least: http://www.amazon.com/faeries-fines...92941164&sr=8-7.