Banana Nut Cheesecake

I probably wouldn't have tried making this cheesecake if it wasn't for one of my cousins who said he really loved it and was wondering if I ever made it before. So one day, we invited them over for dinner and I made it for dessert. I'm actually glad I did because it's one of my favorite cheesecakes now and it turned out REALLY good. I didn't have a recipe for this cheesecake at hand or in my baking books, so I searched for one on the Internet and I came across a winner on the website for "Taste of Home." You can get the recipe by clicking on this link: Banana Cheesecake Recipe.
When I made this cheesecake, I didn't actually follow all of the recipe. I did the crust differently, and I also put different toppings. The recipe for the crust is actually from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. As for the topping, I crushed some walnuts, toasted them, and sprinkled them on top in addition to drizzling the slices with caramel sauce. Yummm!

 Ingredients:
Crust-

• 1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup walnuts (toasted and finely chopped)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp (or 1/2 stick) butter, melted

Filling-

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla

1. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Stir the graham cracker crumbs, chopped walnuts, sugar, and salt together in a bowl and mix with melted butter. All of the dry ingredients should be moist, and it's best to mix with your fingers. Turn the ingredients into the springform pan and pat down an even layer of crumbs over the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Put the pan in the freezer while preheating the oven for 10 minutes. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Then place the springform pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while making the cheesecake.

2. For the filling, combine the bananas and lemon juice; set aside.

3. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, and salt until smooth.

4. Add the eggs; beat on low speed just until combined.

5. Stir in the sour cream, vanilla, and banana mixture. Pour into the crust. Place the pan in a baking pan filled halfway with water and bake at the 350 degrees for about 1 hour, or until the center is almost set. When the cheesecake is done, turn off the oven, prop open the oven door, and let the cheesecake sit for another hour in its water bath.

6. Take the cheesecake out of the oven and let cool before refrigerating the cheesecake for 4 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, top with toasted (chopped) walnuts, a drizzle of caramel or chocolate sauce, and a dollop of whipped cream!

(I'm sorry about the horrible quality of the pictures, but at the time I made this, my digital camera wasn't working so I had to use my phone camera.)

Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I finished transferring most of the posts from my old baking blog which were on Xanga. So feel free to check those out. I also wanted to let all of you know that I do have a page on facebook (check out my facebook badge on the right-hand column), so go ahead and please become a fan. =) Other than that, I hope to be updating soon since I have a bunch of recipes I need to put up that I made awhile back and didn't have time to post on. As of right now, I have no idea when I'll get to try something new since I've been pretty busy. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to baking soon.
...O yea, if you haven't already noticed, I gave my blog a brand new look. I love my old layout, but it wasn't working out for me. I hope you all like it!