Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Cheesecake

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 145 min
Servings: 12
Yield: 12 servings

Description

If you're a lover of cheesecake and sweet potato pie, you might try this recipe for your next Thanksgiving meal.

Ingredients

3 medium sweet potatoes
1 (14 2/5 ounce) package graham crackers
1/4 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons melted butter
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 whole eggs, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, at room temperature

Directions

1 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Prick sweet potatoes several times with a fork and place onto a baking sheet.
2 Bake in the preheated oven until sweet potatoes are easily pierced with a knife, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to rest, 8 hours to overnight.
3 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4 Combine graham crackers, walnuts, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a food processor and blend until crumbly. Incorporate melted butter. Press mixture evenly into a 9-inch springform pan to form a crust.
5 Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Let crust cool.
6 Place a cake pan filled with water on the bottom rack of the oven to create moisture and prevent cheesecake from cracking.
7 Combine baked sweet potatoes, cream cheese, white sugar, brown sugar, lemon extract, vanilla extract, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a high-powered blender (such as Vitamix®) and process until smooth. Mix in whole eggs and egg yolks on the lowest speed possible; be careful not to overmix filling.
8 Pour filling into crust.
9 Bake in the preheated oven until a tester comes out clean and cheesecake just jiggles slightly in the center, about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Leave cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar to allow cheesecake to cool gradually and prevent cracking, about 45 minutes.
10 Refrigerate cooled cheesecake for 2 hours before serving.