Pineapple Topped Cheesecake

Oh Yum.  A wonderfully creamy cheesecake topped with quartered pineapple rings on top of a graham cracker crust that melts in your mouth. Enjoy it with friends and family or keep it all for yourself!  That's why I like to make these perfect little 6 inch cheesecakes.  I have included a link at the bottom of the recipe so you can find the little spring form pans I use.


Pineapple Topped Cheesecake 

3 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 sticks salted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter until moistened. Pour into a spring form pan. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and about 1-inch up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Cheesecake

• 5  pks (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1  3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In large mixer bowl, blend cheese, sugar, flour, lemon and orange zest and vanilla at high speed.  Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time; beat until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with spatula.  Next beat in cream until batter is smooth and creamy.

Pour batter into your prepared crust and bake in a water bath at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes depending on the size of your pan. The cheesecake will be slightly brown around the edges. It will be slightly wobbly just at the center. Allow the cheese cake to cool on a wire rack at room temperature.

When completely cool remove the cheesecake from the spring form pan by running a sharp knife around the outside edge before removing the sides of the pan and then run a knife under the crust to release it from the pan’s bottom. Drizzle with glaze. 

Glaze and Topping                                          

           
1 small can of pineapple rings, cut in sections
1/3 cup of pineapple jam or preserves
2 teaspoons water

Place the jam or preserves in a small saucepan. Heat the saucepan over low to medium heat on the stove, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Add water and stir constantly over low heat, until the sauce becomes thinner, pourable consistency. Add more water if necessary to get a consistency of thin honey-like syrup which you can easily brush over the pineapple with a pastry brush. Let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes or until it's still thin enough to pour but no longer piping hot. Generously brush over pineapple and allow it to run down the sides of the cheesecake.

If you are interested in these little 6 inch spring form pans you can click on this link to find them. Remember, anything you purchase on Amazon through Welcome Home will go to the NO KILL Advocacy group to help save the lives of dogs and cats who are killed unnecessarily while waiting for their forever homes. Note the Welchome08 in the link.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DIX7U/ref=as_li_ss_sm_fb_us_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=399837&creativeASIN=B0000DIX7U&linkCode=shr&tag=welchome08-20&qid=1378240341&sr=8-1&keywords=6+inch+spring+form+pans

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