Time: 6 – 12 hours (long cooling and set time)

Music Selection: David Foster & Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra – Flight of the Snowbird & Winter Olympics Theme Song

This dessert is divine, much like this amazing composition by Canada’s David Foster. This dessert does take some time to make, although it is an easy recipe to make – it is very worth the time and effort! It is also a great way to use up 4 ripe bananas in one dessert – I think that makes it a healthy dessert, too!

Ingredients:

Crust:

24 vanilla wafer cookies (like Nillas) or 1 cup of vanilla graham wafer crumbs

¾ cup chopped pecans (finely)

¼ cup melted butter

Filling:

2 – 8 oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature

1 cup sugar

 2 Tbsp cornstarch

3 eggs

4 bananas (about 2 cups), mashed well or pureed

1 cup sour cream

1 ½ Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Dash of salt

Topping:

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Rum Sauce:

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup butter

2 Tbsp dark or spiced rum

Dash cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 deg with rack in center of oven. Wrap the outside of a 9 inch springform pan with heavy foil.

• 

With a blender, pulse the cookies into a flour. In a bowl, mix the cookie crumbs, pecans, and butter well. Press into bottom of springform pan and place in fridge to stay cool.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

To prepare the filling, put cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, eggs, mashed banana, sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. With beaters, beat until combined and no large lumps. Pour into the springform pan.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

In a large roasting pan, place the spring form pan (including the foil wrapping). Pour hot water around outside of springform pan into the roaster until the water is approximately 1 inch high. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove cake from oven but keep the oven at 350 deg.

• 

While cake is baking, in a separate bowl, mix the topping ingredients together and set aside.

• 

• 

• 

When cake has baked, pour the topping on top and spread evenly. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven. Turn oven off but let the cake cool in the oven for another 2 hours. At this time, you should see that the cake is pulling away from the sides.

• 

Remove cake from oven and take a knife to gently cut around the cake. Place cake in the fridge and let cool completely – at least another 2 hours and better if you can let it set for 8 hours.

When ready to serve, prepare the rum sauce. In a small sauce pan, heat the butter, sugar and cream until the sugar is dissolved and it is starting to boil. Turn off heat and add the rum. Mix well.

• 

To decorate the cheesecake, use whipping cream and/or sliced bananas and half pecans. Serve the cake with the rum sauce. Enjoy at high noon tea or for a festive event! Delicious with a strong cup of tea!

• 

• 

•