Creamy smooth and delightfully tropical, Pineapple Cheesecake is a real celebration dessert.
Preparation Time: About 30 minutes | Baking Time: 1 hour 45 minutes (includes crust time)
Yield: One 9-inch Cheesecake, 16 servings
Pineapple Cheesecake
Crust:
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ cup white or brown sugar
- ½ cup macadamia nuts or pecans
- ½ cup room temperature butter
Filling:
- 3½ 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, room temperature
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- ½-1 teaspoon, each orange and lemon zest
- ¼ cup whipping cream
- 1½ cups sour cream
- 4 large eggs
- 1 large pineapple, diced -- ½ cup squeezed-dry for filling
How to make it:
Crust:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pan spray or grease a 9-inch spring form pan. You may also line the bottom with parchment paper.
Pulse flour, sugar and nuts together in food processor until nuts are chopped in small pieces. If you do not have a food processor, chop the nuts by hand and mix everything together by hand until crumbly. Press into the bottom and about 1½ inches up the side of the prepared spring form pan and bake in preheated oven 15-20 minutes or until starting to turn golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool while preparing the filling.
Lower the oven to 350 degrees.
Filling:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and zest together using a stand or hand mixer. Scrape down the bowl and beat until there are no lumps of cheese. Add the cream, sour cream, and eggs one ingredient at a time, mixing well, and scraping the bowl down before adding the next ingredient. Do not over beat the mixture.
Pour half of the cream cheese filling on top of the pre-baked crust. Arrange the pineapple on top in a circle, leaving the middle without pineapple. (This makes it easier to cut when serving.) Pour the remaining filling over the pineapple and smooth the top. Bake in a water bath for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1½ hours. I baked mine 1 hour and 25 minutes. The cake should still have a bit of a jiggle in the middle when finished baking. Let cool, and then chill for at least 3 hours or overnight is even better.
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