Cheesecakes

The last treats I baked for the holidays turned out to be three cheesecakes...I was in such a rush since I had to wait until the week of Christmas to get them made that I failed to take any pictures of them and since they are a secret family recipe I won't be posting the recipes here but I will give you some details to make you drool.

Cheesecake #1: Of course I made the original Plain Cheesecake since that is the go-to favorite for many. Rich but not too rich, creamy, smooth, and fresh (thanks to the lemon juice). It had a graham cracker crust with a hint of cinnamon but it could also be made with ginger snaps.

Cheesecake #2: A hit from last year had to be brought back and tweaked to make it even better. I call it a Caramel Pecan Cheesecake but should maybe call it a Double Sugar OD. This year I spread thick Smuckers Caramel/Butterscotch topping all over the Pecan Sandie crust and then poured the plain batter in swirling more caramel through the top. After baking it and topping it with the normal sour cream topping I spread chopped Pralined Pecans (recipe I found in Southern Living) over the top and drizzled on more caramel topping. Talk about a sugar overdose! Think next year I will make my own caramel sauce now that I know how to make caramels.

Cheesecake #3: You have to have chocolate so I went with the Chocolate Almond Amaretto (Disorrano) Cheesecake. This is a recipe from way back...my mom has been making this one for years. Not too much chocolate and not too much amaretto; a nice balance baked in a Oreo crust topped with chocolate sour cream topping, almonds and a drizzle of semi-sweet chocolate. Will let you in on one secret ingredient - coffee - just a shot, but oh how it wakes up the chocolate flavor.

The reason for the three cakes is that I give them to three sets of family's and each gets a third of each flavor. If you are wondering how they turned out all I can say is I had no complaints and had reports that one of them is already gone.

Happy New Year!