A cheesecake is the ultimate treat dessert, packed with fat and crumbly crust. However, for something a little more holiday-themed, why not try adding some eggnog and make something totally unique?
Make sure to use this Graham Cracker Crust recipe to make the perfect crust for your eggnog cheesecake! Also, don’t forget to also make some Caramel Syrup yourself to make this even better!
Eggnog Cheesecake
Eggnog gets a bad rap these days. Most people only get it out of the carton around Christmastime and don’t see any other use for it other than a singular drink on Christmas morning.
However, not only is eggnog actually really good, but it can also be used as an ingredient to add richness, flavor, and a whole lot of texture to all kinds of dessert recipes.
This recipe takes a classic recipe and spruces it up with the addition of a good amount of eggnog to make a Christmas-y, fatty, and super tasty cheesecake!
How Do You Easily Tell When Your Cheesecake Is Done
One of the trickiest parts of making a cheesecake is trying to time it perfectly right so that it doesn’t overcook.
If you tried to cook it until it looked visually cooked, the entire thing would be extremely overcooked, with the center turning rigid and a little bit crumbly.
The real secret trick to making sure that your cheesecake gets cooked perfectly is to give it a very, very slight jiggle when you go to check on it in the oven.
When a cheesecake is just about done, the very middle of the cheesecake, the part right in the center of the top part, should have a faint but noticeable wiggle.
Not like it is made of liquid, but it should wiggle a bit like a bowl of Jello would if you shook it.
The reason this works so well is that you need to take into account carry-over heat. Once you pull the cheesecake from the oven, the leftover heat will continue to cook the inside.
You want to pull it just a little bit before it is completely cooked so that it will finish cooking while it cools, giving you a perfectly cooked and creamy cheesecake with no unwanted crumbly bits.
Could You Use Low Fat Cream Cheese For This Recipe
There is always a temptation in any rich, fattening recipes like this to substitute some low-fat alternatives to try and shave a few calories off of the final recipe.
While you should always do what is right for you, this is one of those times when a low-fat alternative just isn’t going to work.
While low-fat cream cheese is perfectly fine for spreading on a bagel, if you tried to use it as the base for this cheesecake, you would probably find that the resulting texture was “off” no matter what you did.
Though it is annoying to be forced to make such a high-calorie dessert and not be able to use a lower-calorie substitute, it just isn’t worth it to ruin the texture of the whole cheesecake by using low-fat cream cheese.
Instead, try and only eat a very small amount every time you have a serving! Or only make it for a big event like a potluck or a big family get-together – that way, everyone else will demolish the cheesecake, and you won’t have to feel guilty about eating too much!
Could You Vary Up The Seasonings For This Recipe?
Most cheesecake recipes tend not actually to have very many individual seasonings or spices in them. This is usually because the majority of the flavor of a good cheesecake is the fatty richness of the cream cheese, as well as the flaky, crumbly crust.
However, seeing as how this is an eggnog cheesecake, it makes sense to have at least a little bit of eggnog-y spices, like cinnamon and nutmeg.
However, if you don’t really like these seasonings, feel free to play around and use something you do like!
A little bit of turmeric and ground coriander would make this very different, as well as likely tinge everything a light yellow.
Or you could go even more intense with a bit of ground cardamom to make it taste a bit like a Swedish Cinnamon roll! Just use whatever seasonings and spices you think would work and experiment!
Looking for more delicious Cheesecake recipes? Try these out:
• Girl Guide Cookie Cheesecake
• Christmas Shortbread Cheesecake
Pin This Recipe To Your Chicken Recipes Board and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!
Eggnog Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 1 graham cracker crust
- 3 8 ounce packages cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup eggnog
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- one batch caramel syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Prepare the graham cracker crust recipe. Press into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9 inch spring form pan.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool.
- Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- In the bowl attached to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, sugar, flour. cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until light and fluffy. Slowly mix in the eggs until combined, then the eggnog and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into cooled crust.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 250 and bake for another 40-45 minutes, or until center of cake barely jiggles.
- Remove from the oven and run a knife around the rim, loosening the crust from the rim so that cracks don’t form.
- Let the cheesecake cool completely before removing the rim.
- Slice and serve drizzled with caramel syrup.
Bridget says
Can you make them in cup cakes