Cheesecake and Pecan Pie together in one dessert. How could anything be better?
This outrageously good Pecan Pie Cheesecake has a crust made from vanilla wafer crumbs, a nutty and sweet pecan pie layer topped off with a cool and creamy cheesecake layer. I’ve become obsessed with the Crock Pot Dulce de leche I made recently so I drizzled that on top.
This was the first cheesecake I’ve made in eons. I’m surprised I even still had my springform pan.
Note: The recipe (from Taste of the South) did not call for a water bath and I didn’t use one. I thought about it, but I didn’t have any aluminum foil to wrap around the bottom of my springform pan.
When I took the cheesecake out of the oven, it looked absolutely perfect. Completely smooth on top. But when I walked past it about 10 minutes later, it had a giant crack down the middle. Easily fixed with some Dulce de Leche.
Water Bath
But if you don’t want a crack, try using a water bath. Although I’m not sure how much they really help. I’ve heard of plenty of people who have used a water bath and had their cheesecake crack and others who never use a water bath and never have cracks. I should probably check my oven temperature to see if it is running hot.
Anyone have any cheesecake baking tips?
But crack or no crack this is a truly decadent dessert. I love a pecan pie but it is an insanely sweet dessert. This Pecan Pie Cheesecake is perfect for when you want something sweet, but not something sickeningly sweet. You still get to enjoy the flavor of a pecan pie, but the cheesecake layer cuts down on the sweetness.
I’m going to try to start making 1 cheesecake a month, but this one is going to be hard to top!
Storage
Leftover cheesecake can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days. Serve chilled.
How to Serve
Top with whipped cream and a pecan half and drizzle with either Dulce de Leche or Caramel Ice Cream Topping.
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Pecan Pie Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 3/4 cups vanilla-wafer crumbs
- 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
Pecan filling
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup dark corn syrup
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cheesecake filling
- 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine vanilla-wafer crumbs and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Stir melted butter in with a spatula. Press into the bottom and halfway up the sides of a 9-inch Springform pan.
- Bake for 6 minutes and let cool.
- Combine all Pecan-Filling ingredients in a medium saucepan.
- Stir well and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring continuously, until mixture thickens, about 8 to 10 minutes. Pour into prepared crust.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add brown sugar and flour and beat until fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Use a rubber spatula to scrape doen the sides of the bowl to make sure everything mixes evenly.
- Add cream and vanilla and beat just to combine. Pour mixture over pecan filling.
- Place in oven and bake for 1 hour. Turn oven off but leave cheesecake in oven with door closed for 1 more hour.
- Remove cheesecake from oven and run a knife around the sides to make sure they are not sticking. Let cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve with Dulce de Leche,
Nutrition
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Sharing with the Country Cook’s Weekend Potluck.
Originally published Octover 15, 2014.
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**MAKE SURE TO LET YOUR CAKE CHILL OVER NIGHT BEFORE RELEASING THE SPRING PAN!!!! Mine would have been perfect had i waited, now im stuck with cracks! Grrrrrr!
Oh no! Hate that you got cracks. Did you run a knife around the edge before you released it? That usually does the trick for me. Hope you enjoyed how it tasted.
Re the crack in your cheesecake. try letting it cool gradually without opening the oven after the cooking time is up. Too fast cooling will cause cracks. And of course, you may cover the crack with something yummy!
this is a GREAT recipe !! i totally loved it ! and all of my family enjoyed it ! but the pecan layer was so HARD .
i had a hard time slicing the cheesecake , and eating it , i think i over simmer the batter :/ i’ll try it agin soon , thank you for sharing such a great yummy recipe !
I wraped my pan in foil put a pan of water on lower rack did not pre bake crumb crust and left cookies course…came out perfect!! Made for daughter’s birthday…thank you
Thanks for the tips. I guess that not prebaking the crust sure would help to prevent it from being so hard.
I made this for Thanksgiving and my family requested it again at Christmas! Delicious.
So happy everyone enjoyed it! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
This is an amazing cheesecake. I have made it twice, the second time I cooked the pecan layer less like another reader suggested, turned out great. I also removed the pan as soon as the cheesecake was set. Delicious!
Glad you enjoyed it Peggy! It seems like cooking the pecan layer less is really the way to go. Thanks for your feedback! Happy New Year!
My Pecan filing leaked out the pan and the crust was rock hard. Cheesecake portion was awesome. Will make the cheesecake part but leave out the rock hard pecan filing.
im so confused. I followed all directions to a T and had sooo much cheesecake batter left. I used a 9 inch pie pan and the pecan filling took up most of the pan and then I poured the cheesecake batter in until it was almost overflowing and I still had tons leftover so I made 9 mini cheesecakes! I hope it turns out okay and I’m surprised that no one else had this problem. I’ve never seen whipping cream in a cheesecake before and I feel like it made the batter a little more runny than I’m used to. We shall see in an hour!
I think the problem was that you used a 9 inch pie pan when you should have used a 9 inch springform pan, the ones used for cheesecakes. They are much deeper and shouldn’t have the cheesecake fall over the pan
Anytime receive says 9″ pan I always use 10″ mine also was too much for the pan suggested.
I have made this several times. I put water in a pan on the bottom rack of my oven and then put the cheesecake on the rack above it. Works great. NO cracks! I’ve made it in a 9 x 13 too.
(I read another post that said to put a spoon in the door to cool it down so it doesn’t crack). The door needs to stay closed for 1 hour so it can finish baking.
This was a great tip!!! my pie came out perfect. Thank you
I made this for Thanksgiving. Tastes great but I had difficulty cutting through the pecan layer. I wonder if I overcooked the pecan part. Could that be the reason?
I had a little trouble cutting through the pecan layer too and I wish I knew a way to make it a little softer.
I think it is cooked too long… I would just heat till sugar melts… And I NEVER bake my crust first. I am getting ready to make this for Christmas! Yum!
Its in the oven! Phew that was a lot of work, lol. I only have one springform pan and its a 10″, I hope that will be ok, I don’t know how on earth you fit all of that into a 9″! Instead of using 1 &3/4 cup wafer crumbs I used 2 cups and increased the butter slightly to cover my bigger pan (honestly I should have used another 1/3 cup since my pan was bigger) everything else i followed to a t. there was maybe 1/2″ of room left in the pan to the top, this is my first cheesecake ever, so I have no idea if I need to worry about overflow or not? Anyway it looked delicious and the pecan layer smelled wonderful! I didnt have time to make the dulce de leche sauce, so i picked up a bottle of caramel sauce instead. Thank you for the wonderdul recipe! I’ve really been wanting pecan pie but without the toothache 🙂
Well my oven quick working at some point intime during baking, so I guess I won’t get to taste it and see how it came out, instead I get to scoop it into the trash. What a waste 🙁
It shouldn’t overflow. It is a lot of work to make this cheesecake. Hope you love it and think it was time well spent 🙂
oh my gosh. I forgot the butter in the pecan layer. Is it a deal breaker?
Hmmm, I honestly don’t know how that will affect it. Hope it still turns out well.
I love this idea!! Pecan Pie during the holidays is the best, and making it into a cheesecake is genius! Do you think I’d be able to use this recipe and make them into minis using a muffin tin? I have two Thanksgivings, and making two separate cheesecakes is doable, but inconvenient.
I think that would work as long as you have a good idea of how much to decrease the cooking time. Any recipe for mini cheesecakes should give you a good idea.
This was a delicious dessert, however The crust was a little tough and hard to cut through any suggestions on what I might have done wrong
This does tend to be a harder crust since it is baked before the filling is put in. If you want a more tender crust, you can try skipping the prebaking and just chill the crust until it firms up. Then proceed with the recipe.
I do not have spring pan, can I make this in a pie dish or a 9×13?
You can use either, but will have to cut quite a bit of time off the cooking time. You could also use a cake pan and cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom and then a strip to fit around the sides.
I would say to invest in a springform pan. They not expensive and I use them for a lot of things
I’ve always avoided my cheesecakes from cracking by the cooling process . I turn the oven off and place a wooden spoon in the oven door to have a slight opening and let it cool about an hour before removing .
That sounds like a really good tip Sharon. Thank you for sharing it! I’m going to try using a wooden spoon to crack the door next time.
This is a great suggestion! I’m definitely going to try this! Thanks Sharon E.!!!!
I posted, but not sure if worked. Maybe delete this if difficult. The outside layer of cheesecake retains all the heat inside. They need to come out earlier. cracking is a sign of overbaking, I have never used a waterbath on cheesecake, and only reduce the cooktime. Should prevent the cracking. (My uncle had a bakery, and thats his tip from 10 years ago)
My uncle used to own a bakery, and he said the secret to cheesecake is to take it out early. It will continue to cook in the pan, hence the cracks. I am going to try your recipe and decrease the baking time by 10 minutes
Thanks so much for the tip Rebecca! Let us know how shortening the baking time works.
Wow this looks luscious! I adore pecan pie, but I agree that it’s really sweet. Pinned to make for Christmas!! Thanks so much for a great recipe. 🙂
Thank you Debbie! It will be perfect for Christmas! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
I LOVE THIS PIE!! In fact I think it’s so awesome that I featured it as the ‘Pin of the Week’ on my FB page 🙂 Here’s a link if you want to see the post: https://www.facebook.com/bluecrabmartini
Have a great day!
~Christin (spelled just like your name)