In the interest of really mixing it up a bit at Thanksgiving we substituted the apple pie for cheesecake.  Gasp!  I know, how can you get rid of the apple pie?  Easy, I wasn’t getting rid of the pumpkin pie!  Because we were acknowledging that my husband had a milestone birthday in November we decided to do cheesecake instead.  He even made it.  Not sure if I should feel guilty that he made his own birthday dessert but he does love being in the kitchen and he makes a fabulous cheesecake.  And I love it when he bakes and cooks.  I get very spoilt when he’s creating.  🙂

The recipe here is a variation of the one in the “Pillsbury The Complete Book of Baking”.  We didn’t use orange peel or chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 325F/160C.

Ahem, if you are on a diet or are pretending to be, this isn’t for you.  For a start, there is 32oz of cream cheese.  The full fat stuff.  I try in a lot of recipes to use low fat when I can but that’s a no-no for this.  So let’s begin!

Grease the spring form pan.

Then using a plastic baggie crush enough graham crackers to coat the bottom and part of the sides.

To make the cheesecake you will need 32 oz of cream cheese, 4 eggs, 1 1/3 cups of sugar, 2 T of orange liqueur.

Cream the cheese in the mixing bowl until it becomes creamy and smooth.

A bit at a time add the sugar mixing until it is a smooth mixture.  With the mixer on low add an egg at a time, then add the liqueur.  Once incorporated beat for a couple of minutes making sure the sides are scraped.

Pour into the pan and then bake for an hour.

Once it is set, allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the form from the bottom.

For the sauce my husband heated raspberries with lemon and sugar to taste until it was a thick sauce.  Then he strained it to remove the seeds.

To serve just pour over the cheesecake and enjoy.

The sauce was a perfect counterbalance to the sweetness of the cheesecake.  A lovely tartness to it.