Gluten free Cheesecake Recipe!

-     I had really been craving sweets the past few days and since most sweets are filled with gluten, I cant normally have desserts when we are with other people or go out to eat. So after drooling over all sorts of different dessert recipes and looking at the pictures in cookbooks, I decided it was time to make a homemade dessert for Ben and I! What better dessert to try then CHEESECAKE?... 

I figured I would try a basic recipe because Ben and I both love cheesecake, but Ben loves it when he can actually taste the cheesecake without all the extra stuff piled on, so this was my experiment at a basic traditional homemade cheesecake! ( I got this recipe from Allrecipes.com and just made it gluten free)

For the Crust: 

1.       5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan

2.       12 graham crackers (I got gluten free graham crackers from HEB, which is a grocery store in Texas, but it can also be found in whole foods)

3.       1/4 cup sugar

4.       1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

5.      I like a little bit of cinnamon.. so I sprinkled about 1/4 tsp.

For FILLING:

1.        5 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (make sure it stays out long enough to become soft!)

2.        1 3/4 cups sugar

3.        3 tablespoons all-purpose flour ( I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour. This can be found in most grocery stores in the gluten free section)

4.        1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5.        1/4 teaspoon salt

6.        4 eggs

7.        2 egg yolks

8.        1/4 cup whipping cream

Direction

-  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make crust: Butter a 9-by-3-inch springform pan. In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until fine crumbs form; add melted butter, sugar, and salt, and pulse to combine. Press crumb mixture into bottom and about 1 inch up side of pan. Bake until set, 12 to 15 minutes; let cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven to 325 degrees.

- Fill a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish with 8 cups water; place on lowest oven rack. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F. (This was just easier than making a water bath and putting the cheesecake in it; I always worry that somehow the water will seep into the cheesecake).

- In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar. Add the flour, vanilla and salt. Combine eggs and egg yolks; add to cream cheese mixture just until combined. Beat in cream just until combined. Pour over crust.

-Bake on middle rack at 325 degrees F for 70-75 minutes or until center is almost set (top of cheesecake will crack). Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan. 

This cheesecake it great because you can eat it plain and it is delicious, or you can spice it up with some melted chocolate drizzled over top, drizzle caramel on top, or put some fresh berries on top!

Ben and I ate this last night. He gave it a 9, which is pretty high for him! I gave it an 8; I think the cream cheese was not fully softened when I began, so I microwaved it to soften it a bit and I think that is a BAD mistake... It softened it, but I think it threw the flavor off a little bit. So be sure to let the cream cheese sit out until it is soft enough and becomes room temperature! Other than that, the consistency and everything turned out great and it was very smooth and creamy!