Dream Banana Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 oz melted butter
• 2 tsp sugar (optional) - if you do not like your dessert too sweet, you can easily leave this out.

Filling

• 1 lb cream cheese
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Fancy Banana Topping

• 3 bananas, peeled and sliced diagonally
• juice of 1 lemon

Glaze

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp orange juice
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate, grated

Directions

Crust

1. Combine crust ingredients and line the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan.

Filling

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine cream cheese and sugar.
3. Add vanilla and egg yolks and beat very well.
4. In a new bowl, beat egg whites until stiff and fold into your first mixture.
5. Pour onto crust and bake for 25 minutes.
6. Remove and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
7. Once cool, remove your springform to expose full cheesecake.
8. Preheat oven again to 350F.
9. Combine sugar, vanilla and sour cream and spread over your cheesecake.
10. Bake for 5 minutes.

Fancy Banana Topping

1. Once cool enough to touch the pan, gently tip your cake so that you can sprinkle the chocolate shavings all around the sides.
2. Arrange bananas on top of cake.
3. Drizzle bananas with lemon to keep them from going brown.

Glaze

1. Combine butter, brown sugar, orange juice and salt in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until dissolved.
2. Allow to cool slightly for 2-3 minutes, then gently pour over bananas on cake.
3. Let the cake set in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.