Maple Pecan Cheesecake

Combine a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie and a cheesecake. Three desserts in one bring a face lift to old classics.  This is one dessert with ALL the flavors of holidays in one delicious bite.

Serves: 20
Start-to-Finish: 6 hours 35 minutes ( 5 hours cool off and chill)
Recipe By: Anne Thornton

Ingredients:

Cheesecake:
1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs (approx 12 graham crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 (8-oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (15-oz) can pumpkin
3 eggs, at room temperature for 30 minutes
1/4 cup pure grade B maple syrup (Grade B comes from the color and flavor, not the quality of the syrup.  It simply means it was harvested later in the year so it has a deeper brown color and more earthy flavor.)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Maple Pecan Glaze:
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup pure grade B maple syrup
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 325*.


For the cheesecake:
2.  Finely crush the graham crackers in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or use a food processor.
3.  In a bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter.
4.  Firmly press graham cracker mixture into the bottom of 9-inch springform pan. (You don't need to come up the sides.)
5.  In a mixer, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.
5.  Gradually mix in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
6.  Add the pumpkin, eggs, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, mix well.
7.  Pour into the springform pan.
8.  Bake until the center appears nearly set, but jiggles a little when shaken, 1 hour and 15 minutes.
9.  Cool for 1 hour.
10. When cooled, cover and chill overnight, or for at least 4 hours.

For the glaze:
11. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the whipping cream and pure maple syrup.
12. Boil until slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
13. Stir in the chopped pecans.
14. Cover and chill until time to serve.
15.  To serve, spoon the glaze over the cheesecake. (I had a LOT of trouble removing the cheesecake from the spring-form pan. My crust was stuck fast to the side of the pan, so really make sure you run your plastic knife along the edges until the sides can break away cleanly or else it will tear the cheesecake.  Mine tore in half; I pushed it back together and covered the tear with the glaze and no one knew :)