Cinnamon Explosion Cheesecake

Well, here it is.  If only it didn't need to be refrigerated overnight before I can cut into it and find out if it tastes as good as it looks. I want to know now!  Here's how I did it:

Cinnamon Explosion Cheesecake

Ingredients and directions for crust:

1 ½         cups graham cracker crumbs

¼             cup white sugar

1              tablespoon ground cinnamon

4              tablespoons butter, melted

 

 

Mix crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Add melted butter and mix together well with a fork until all the crumbs are moistened.   Spray a 9 inch springform pan generously with non-stick spray and pour crumb mixture into center of it. 

Gently slide pan around in a circular motion to level the crumb layer into the bottom of it.  With your hands, starting in the center, gently press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides just enough to cover the seam.

 

 

Center the pan on a piece of heavy duty foil that is large enough to come all the way to the top edge all the way around.  Crush the foil onto the top edge of the pan to hold it in place, but not into it where the batter may rise over it.   Set wrapped pan aside.  There is no need to pre-bake the crust.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients and directions for filling: 

3              8 oz. bricks of cream cheese, softened

1              cup white sugar

1 ½         teaspoons ground cinnamon

½             cup sour cream

3              eggs at room temperature

2              teaspoons vanilla

 

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.  Add softened cream cheese, one brick at a time, and beat until smooth after each addition.  Add sour cream and beat until smooth. 

Whisk eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl, then add to cream cheese mixture and beat until well incorporated and smooth.  Set batter aside.

 

Now... here comes the fun part!  The cinnamon swirl stuff!!

Cinnamon swirl ingredients and directions:

1 ½         sticks butter, melted

1              cup firmly packed brown sugar

¼             cup all-purpose flour

1 ½         tablespoons ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Stir in melted butter and mix until well combined.  Place mixture into a pastry bag with largest size writing tip, or use a freezer ziplock bag with corner snipped to make small hole.  Oh boy, this stuff looks like it's gonna be good!

 

 

Now's the time to get the oven and water bath going, so...

 

 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Place one inch of boiling or very hot tap water into a baking pan big enough to sit your springform pan into and put it in the oven while it preheats.

 

 

Prepare the Batter for the Oven:

Gently spoon half the batter into the prepared springform pan with the crust in it.

 

 

Pipe a tight spiral, beginning in the middle, of the cinnamon swirl over the batter.  Pay no attention to that not-so-tight spiral there... when you do it, make it tighter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top the spiral with the remaining batter and then pipe another swirl on top of it.

Gently use the tines of a fork to press the spiral about ¾ of the way into the batter. 

 

Place the foil-wrapped springform pan into the waterbath pan.

Set a timer for 1 hour.

 

At one hour, begin checking the cheesecake every 5 minutes for doneness.  Very gently move the pan a little to see how much the batter jiggles.  You want the very center to jiggle slightly.  It may take anywhere from 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes for this to happen, depending on your oven.

 

When it’s done, turn the oven off and open the oven door slightly.  Allow it to cool in the oven for another full hour, then remove it from the waterbath, remove the foil from around the pan, and place on a rack to continue cooling to room temperature.

It should be refrigerated overnight or for at least 6 hours before serving.

I chose to make a simple glaze of confectioners' sugar, milk, and cinnamon just to make it prettier. Here's what it looked like before I glazed it.

Look at those ribbons of gooey cinnamon swirl stuff!



And, as seen at the top of the post, here's the final product!

Well, here's a cut piece so you can see all that cinnamon goodness on the inside:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's very good, but next time, I will make a tighter swirl pattern and also cut a smaller hole in the piping bag to get a thinner line.  Other than that, it's a keeper at my house.  My husband loves it.
Now I have to use this swirly concept on more flavor combinations.  Yeah!!!