This cheesecake has a very subtle hint of banana and chocolate. The texture is light and creamy. It requires a few extra steps, but it is an easy recipe to prepare.



Crust:

1 c. finely crushed ginger snap cookies (measured after crushing)

Butter for preparing the pan and adhereing your cookie crumbs



Equipment:

Mixer

Spatula

Extra bowl

Spring form pan

Measuring cups and spoons

Two sheets of aluminum foil, each sheet a few inches larger than the diameter of your spring form pan

1 broiling or roasting pan that will hold your spring form pan

tea kettle



Cheesecake Filling:

2 pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. whipping cream

1 c. sugar ( I used Splenda)

1 c. mashed baked bananas, baking instructions below

4 room temp. lg. eggs, slightly beaten

pinch of salt

2 oz. good white chocolate, melted (I used Valrhona 100% Cacao)

1 tsp. chocolate extract

1 tsp. vanilla

The Chocolate Swirl:

1 or 2 oz. of melted dark chocolate ( this just depends on how much chocolate you want for your swirling. I did use 2 oz.)

1 Tbsp. milk, may not need all of this



Preheat oven to 275F.



Assemble and measure all your ingredients before you begin. Just makes preparing any recipe easier.

Place your ginger snaps in the food processor and process until fine. Generously butter sides and bottom of spring form pan. Pour in the crushed gingersnaps and swirl around to coat thoroughly and pour out any excess. On a flat surface, place your two sheets of aluminum foil, one on top of the other. Place your prepared pan in the center and wrap your pan. Pull the sheets tightly as you wrap. This is to prevent any leakage if your pan is so inclined. Mine is. Set aside.

Place your tea kettle of water on to boil.

In the bowl of your mixer, add the softened cream cheese and beat until smooth. Scrap down the sides and the bottom of your bowl several times during mixing.

Place your 2 oz. of chocolate in microwave and heat at 20-second intervals until it is soft, not runny thin, just nice and soft.

Add sour cream and whipping cream to your cream cheese, beat until combined. . Scrap down your bowl again. Add your sugar in a slow steady stream while mixer is running on low speed. Scrap down your bowl. Add bananas. Mix to combine. Add softened white chocolate, slightly beaten eggs and salt. Mix to thoroughly combine on low speed or you will splatter this mixture all over the place. LOL! Scrap down your bowl. Lastly add the chocolate extract and your vanilla extract. Mix to combine. Don't over mix.

Now it is time to melt your swirling chocolate in the microwave, or you maybe begin the melted process earlier if you are using a double boiler. You want your swirling chocolate to be thinner than the white chocolate you melted for your cheesecake batter. If it needs thinning use some of the tablespoon of milk, adding only tiny amounts of milk at one time. You want a thin, but not completely runny chocolate now. So add only enough milk to produce a thick stream when drizzled from your spoon. Not a thin stream. You want it to be very visible when drizzled on top of your cheese cake.

Pour your batter into your prepared spring form pan.

Drizzle your dark chocolate over the top of your cheesecake mixture. With a thin spreading knife ( offset knife works great here), swirl the chocolate in a pattern of your choice. Do not over swirl.

Place pan containing your cheesecake mixture into your broiler pan or roasting pan. Pour in enough boiling water to come half way up the sides of your spring form pan. I add my water once the pan containing my springform pan is already in place on my oven rack.

Bake cheesecake at 275F for 1 hour and 15 minutes and do not open the oven door or jar the oven during this time. At the end of the 1 hour and 15 minutes, check for doneness. If the center is set, but still will jiggle a little bit, your cake is done. If not and your finger tip sticks to the top of the cake while checking for doneness, cook an additional 15 minutes.

A cheese cake is done when it is set in the center but will still jiggle when moved.

When cake is set in the center, but still jiggle when moved, turn off your oven. Slightly open the oven door and leave your cake inside the oven for 30 minutes with the door ajar. This will help to prevent your cake from cracking.

When this 30 minutes is up, remove cake from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Once your cake is completely cooled, you may remove the sides of your spring form pan. It is now time to place your cheesecake in the fridge. Your cake needs to be left in the fridge for 24 hours before serving, 8 hours minimum.



Baking the bananas:

You bake your bananas before adding them to the batter so the sugar will seep from the bananas but it will be contained inside the banana peel. You won't loose any of it like you would if you peeled them before you baked them. This liquid (or banana syrup) that you have captured inside the banana peel, is sweet tasting and in liquid form. A nice addition to any recipe like this. The bananas will also have a sweeter taste.

Preheat oven to 400F

I used 3 medium size, day old from the store bananas. My three medium size bananas onced mashed equaled 1 cup. My bananas were not too firm, not too ripe. But old enough to be mildly sweet.

Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with Pam. Lay your bananas, unpeeled on the baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 15 minutes sy 400 F.

***Your bananas are going to turn black, don't worry, this is what they are supposed to do.

Here is a picture of my bananas at the end of the 15 minutes baking time:



At the end of the 15 minutes, remove your bananas from the oven. Peel and remove your bananas over a bowl, so that the juices present will not be wasted. Mash bananas with potato masher. Then with a whisk, whisk them just a little bit. You aren't trying to puree them, just have them nicely mashed. They are now ready to add to your batter at the appropriate time.

Using regular granulated sugar always gives a cheesecake a better texture. If you are using granulated sugar, do not use fine sugar. Use regular granulated sugar. This what is best to use in a cheesecake. I had no choice but to use Splenda, and the cake was still delicious.

Please try to use the best white chocolate you can. It does make a difference and it just bakes better.

The combined weight of my three bananas before baking was 1 1/2 pounds. This yielded 1 cup of mashed bananas.