This is a gooey, mapley, creamy version of cheesecake. There is a little bit of maple in each layer. Just a tablespoon in the graham cracker crust helps bind the crumbs. A bit in combination with brown sugar makes for a caramel-kissed cheesecake. And the topper, literally, is to add dollops of gooey maple and pecans to the surface and then gently make swirls with a fork so each bite has some creamy and some mapley elements.
The rest of my family does not care for cheesecake so I don’t make them often. When I made the final version of this one, however, my daughter declared, “I still don’t like cheesecake but if I had to have some, this one would be okay.” And then she ate the whole piece.
Cheesecake with Maple Swirls
For the crust:
- 1 ½ cups ground graham cracker crumbs
- 4 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1 Tbsp Sugarmaker’s Cut Maple Syrup
For the cake:
- 1 lb cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup Sugarmaker’s Cut Maple Syrup
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the maple pecan swirl:
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup Sugarmaker’s Cut Maple Syrup
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease a 9” spring form pan.
To prepare the crust blend the graham crumbs, butter and maple syrup in a bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom of the spring form pan and place the pan in the oven for about 8 minutes or until it begins to brown. Remove and set aside.
For the cheesecake, put the cream cheese in the bowl of a standing mixer and whip with a paddle or cream it by hand. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the brown sugar, maple syrup, flour and vanilla and mix until well blended. Pour the filling over the crust and let settle into a smooth top.
For the maple-pecan swirls, mix together the maple syrup, brown sugar and pecans in a small bowl. Using a small spoon, drop dollops of the mixture into the surface of the cheesecake batter, distributing the dollops evenly. When all of the mixture has been added, take a fork and gently run it through the dollops to pull the syrup-pecan mixture slightly into the cheesecake.
Put on the middle rack of the oven and bake for approximately 30-40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. When cooked, the lovely swirls of maple and pecan may be less distinguishable visually but will taste incredible.
