Sweet Potato Cheesecake

The best part of November, is the food.

Just all the food.

I mean, there are so many different things you can do with a sweet potato.

Sweet potato fries, sweet potato casserole, even sweet potato cheesecake.

And I am going to tell you now, this cheesecake is absolutely fantastic.

I know, you are thinking, a sweet potato cheesecake? Really?

Yes, please please try this or make it for your next Fall Dinner Party, because everyone will fall in love.

And then after that falling in love part, message me and tell me how happy you are.

Makes: 1 9-inch round cheesecake

Takes about: 6 hours (with baking the sweet potato's and cooling)

Difficulty: 2 out of 5

Prep:

Have a roasting pan where you can fit your spring form man in the middle.

The picture below is just an example, don't worry about the crust, you will learn how to do that soon.

Place a piece or parchment paper into the bottom of your 9 inch round spring form pan.

Ingredients:

- Crust -

8 ounces ginger cookies or butter cookies

4 tablespoons unsalted butter - melted

- Cheesecake -

908 grams sweet potato (about 2 large sweet potato's) - roasted and pureed

680 grams cream cheese

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 small pinches of ground nutmeg

1 pinch of ground clove

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

- Step 1 - Roast the Sweet Potato's

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 C), stab your sweet potato's 4 or 5 times with a fork or a knife. This keeps your potato from exploding in the oven.

Bake for about on hour on a rack. You know it will be baked when the skin of the potato is loose.

Once they are baked, pull the potato's out of the oven and let rest until completely cooled.

- Step 2 - Skin and Puree the Sweet Potato's

Once the potato's have completed cooled, pull the skin off of the potato's. It should come off easily.

Puree the potato's until smooth.

To be honest, I used a potato masher.

It did not make the sweet potato's completely smooth, but it made it pretty smooth if you do not have a food processor.

Once pureed, set aside.

- Step 3 - Preheat the Oven

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (190 degrees C).

- Step 4 - Make the Crust

Crush 8 ounces of cookies and add 4 tablespoons of melted butter.

Again, if you don't have a food processor to grind up the cookies, just use a cup to crush the cookies to the best of your ability.

Then press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan and slightly up the sides.

Bake the crust in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes and once completed, put off to the side until needed.

Keep the oven on.

- Step 5 - Cream the Cream Cheese

Add the 680 grams of cream cheese into a large bowl and mix until creamy - about 3-5 minutes.

- Step 6 - Add the Sugar

Add the 3/4 cup granulated sugar to the cream cheese and mix until smooth - about 3-4 minutes.

- Step 7 - Add the Eggs

Add the 3 eggs one at a time.

Make sure you add them one at a time because this will make sure the eggs get incorporated into the cream cheese completely.

The batter will be very smooth.

- Step 9 - The Remaining Ingredients

Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 small pinches of ground nutmeg, 1 pinch of ground clove, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream.

Then add the mashed sweet potato!

And mix for about 3 minutes.

Once mixed, take a spatula and continue mixing until all the sweet potato is completely incorporated.

- Step 10 - Wrap the Spring Form Pan

Before placing the batter into the spring form man, wrap the bottom of the pan in tinfoil.

- Step 10 - Spoon in Batter, but Don't Bake Yet!

Spoon the batter into the spring form pan and then place that pan into a large roasting pan where the spring form pan can lay flat.

Then fill the pan half way up with water.

A water bath is not required for a cheesecake, but it does keep the sides of the cheesecake from browning and also the top from cracking. This will also keep the cake from drying out.

The water bath is better and is worth the pain. I promise.

If you do have questions, please don't hesitate to message me.

- Step 11 - Bake!

Place the roasting pan into the middle of the preheated oven and bake for about an hour.

Once baked, the middle of the cheesecake will giggle just slightly and that is good.

Take the cheesecake out of the oven, out of the water bath and let cool completely - over night is better.

- Step 12 - Enjoy!

Once cooled, eat the entire cake, while reading, while it rains.

Or just eat it because you are cool like that.