Caramel Pecan Cheesecake

My daughter-in-law, Yulia, is pregnant and has some serious cravings. She didn’t ask for any expensive presents for her birthday. All she wanted was a birthday cheesecake—not just any cheesecake, but a caramel pecan cheesecake. Well, it sounded good, but none of my favorite recipe books had that recipe.

I never let a little thing like a recipe get in my way. I looked on the cream cheese carton and found a basic recipe for cheese cake, but it didn’t have a crust. Next I checked the cover of the graham cracker box. There it was.

I headed for the refrigerator hoping my final two ingredients would be there. The pecans, already chopped, were waiting in the crisper. Now if I could just find some caramel syrup. I looked up and down the door where the sauces and dressings were stored but no caramel syrup. Since I didn’t want to go shopping, I would just have to make my own. Why not? I’ve made plenty of sauces in my time. I found the perfect caramel sauce recipe in an old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. If you can imagine it, you can make it. Let’s get started.

Graham cracker crust:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place 8 whole graham crackers in a large zip lock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.Pour crumbs into a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and half a stick of melted butter. Stir until combined. Press onto the sides and bottom of a 9 inch ungreased pie plate. Place in preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, but leave the oven heat on.

Cream cheese filling:

In a large bowl combine 2- 8oz. packages soft cream cheese until smooth. Add ½ cup sour cream, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 slightly beaten eggs,  Then combine ingredients until creamy. Pour into graham cracker crust and return the cheesecake to the oven. Bake 25-30 minutes, until set. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool completely.

Caramel sauce:

In a heavy saucepan, combine1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Add ¼ cup of water, 1/3 cup milk, and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Cook at medium temperature and stir until it comes to a boil. Lower temperature to simmer and continue to stir for 2 minutes until it begins to thicken. Remove from stove, and add 1 tablespoon butter and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

Toast ½ cup chopped pecans, sprinkle on top of cooled cheese cake and drizzle with plenty of caramel sauce. Refrigerate leftovers—if there are any.

This scrumptious cake calmed the cravings of a pregnant woman and was half eaten before we could take a picture.

Cracker Caramel Cookies

A couple of weeks ago we went to my family reunion. As always, I kept an eye out for new tasty recipes to post on my blog. Since most of my family lives hours away, we spent a lot of time on the road. We stayed two enjoyable nights at my sister Lucy’s place. The first night we sat around the kitchen table, talking about old times and snacking on a bag of “Cracker Caramel Cookies”. Dylan, one of my grandsons, brought them along with chocolate chip cookies for the reunion. My daughter, Becky, (Dylan’s mom) made them. The “Cracker Caramel Cookies” didn’t stand a chance. They never made it through the night. When we arrived at the reunion, we arranged the other bag of cookies on a plate and placed them along with the other desserts and no one even knew about the cookies we devoured the night before. Thanks Becky!

Now I must say there were many tasty dishes: Johnnie’s barbecue beef and pulled pork, Lucy’s deviled eggs (I sprinkled them with dill weed), Wilma’s cowboy beans, Elaine’s giant chocolate chip cookies, and Lois’ famous Chinese salad. All the guests just out-did themselves.

There were great stand bys: potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and desserts aplenty. Who made that fabulous dessert? I think it was called “Better than Robert Redford” back in the day. It had whipping cream, butterscotch pudding and a crust on the bottom. But this one had fruit and nuts—I think. What was it and who made it? Let me know and I will post it. Meanwhile I will give you “Becky’s Cracker Caramel Cookies” recipe.

                                             Cracker Caramel Cookies

Line a large cookie sheet with foil. Set the oven to 425 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 1/3-1 ½ packets of saltine crackers

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

1-12 ounce bag dark chocolate chunks or chips (or your favorite chips)

1. Place crackers evenly on foil covered cookie sheet.
2. Measure and combine sugar and butter in small pot and place on medium heat and cook until bubbly. Drizzle over crackers.
3. Place in hot oven (425 degrees) for about 2 minutes until sugar mixture is bubbly. Remove from oven.
4. Pour chocolate chips over hot caramel and place back in oven for a few seconds.
5. Remove from oven and spread chips evenly.
6. Place in freezer until cool. Remove from freezer, break into chunks, and store in zip lock bags.

I know you’re going to love these, but control yourself or they will never make it to your reunion, or picnic, or party….