Shelly's Recipe

BUTTER PECAN CHEESECAKE WITH A CARAMEL SAUCE

Category: Cheesecake

Toast 1 cup finely chopped pecans in 1/4 cup butter until lightly brown. Add 1/2 cup sugar and heat with pecans until caramelized. Add a very small amount of cream and stir it in so that the caramel will not harden and heat. Allow to cool.

Mix together 1/2 stick of butter (at room temperature), 1/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs. Press mixture on the Bottom and a fourth of the way up the sides of a spring form pan.

Filling:
1 1/2 lbs cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp almond flavoring

Beat cream cheese well, add sugar and beat thoroughly. Add eggs, one at a time, beating extremely well after each. Add almond flavoring. Gently fold in the butter pecan mixture, and carefully pour the entire amount into the graham cracker crust. Bake at 375 or 25 to 30 minutes, cool for 5 minutes and spread on a topping make of 1 1/2 cups sour cream mixed with 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla flavoring. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes. Refrigerate overnight.

Serve by pouring a thin layer of caramel sauce into a shallow dessert plate and placing a piece of the cheesecake in the center of the sauce.

To make the caramel sauce, put a cup of sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and swirl it over very low heat. Do not stir. It will melt slowly and make a clear golden syrup that will set off the cheesecake beautifully.