Cheesecake on Pecan Crust & Graham Cracker Crust
Cheesecake made with cream cheese and goat cheese, on a graham cracker & toasted pecan crust, topped with your favorite seasonal berries and fun little star sprinkles for a festive July 4th dessert!
Equipment
- 1 9-inch pie dish
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs You can also substitute Lotus Biscoff Cookie crumbs
- 2 cups chopped toasted pecans
- 1 1/4 sticks butter, melted 5 oz. or 10 tbsp.
Goat Cheese Cheesecake Filling
- 8 oz. goat cheese, softened to room temperature *If you don’t use goat cheese, just replace this with another 8 oz. of cream cheese.
- 12 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 6 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature can substitute 1/2 cup eggbeaters
- 4 oz. plain nonfat Greek yogurt 1/2 cup
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Topping Layer
- 2/3 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Berries for Topping
- 50 blueberries
- 40 raspberries
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Generously butter or grease a 9-inch pie dish. Note - we butter and PAM the pie dish to make it easier to remove the cheesecake slices.
- In a mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, chopped toasted pecans and melted butter and mix well.
- Pat the graham cracker mixture into the bottom and sides of the prepared pie dish. Set aside.
Goat Cheese Cheesecake Filling
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, goat cheese and sugar with an electric mixer or beater until creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, hand beat on the slow speed on the mixer until incorporated. Don’t overbeat, but beat just until creamy and lumps have disappeared. Stir in vanilla and yogurt.
- Pour filling into prepared pie shell and spread out evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until the center is barely jiggly. Note - this time may vary slightly from oven to oven.
- Remove cheesecake from the oven for 10 minutes. Increase oven temp to 400°F.
Topping Layer
- Meanwhile, mix 2/3 cup plain yogurt with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon vanilla in a small bowl.
- After the cake has been out for 10 minutes, carefully spread the topping mixture over the cheesecake.
- Return to the oven and bake the cheesecake for 6-8 minutes longer.
- Remove from oven. Cool completely and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or longer, until cold and firm.
- Serve cheesecake cold or at room temperature.
Berries for Flag Decoration
- Rinse berries and allow to dry before adding them to the top of the cheesecake. Then, arrange the blueberries in the star section and top each with a white star sprinkle. Then make rows for the red stripes using the whole raspberries.
Notes
Cheesecake freezes very well, so you can make this cheesecake ahead of time and once it’s completely cooled, wrap the entire cheesecake in plastic wrap. (Do not add the flag decorations until you’re ready to serve it.) We do this in the pie dish. Then wrap the whole thing in foil, so the cheesecake is double wrapped. Freeze for up to several weeks.
When ready to serve, remove the cheesecake from the freezer the day before and allow it to defrost in the refrigerator.
Then decorate the top with the berries before serving.