Heidi’s Maple Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups fine cookie or graham cracker crumbs

• 5 tablespoons Mount Cabot Dry Maple Sugar (and a touch more to sprinkle atop when serving)

• 5 tablespoons softened butter

• ¾ cup Mount Cabot Maple maple syrup

• ¼ cup heavy cream, chilled

• 24 ounces (three 8 ounce packages) softened cream cheese

• 3 eggs room temperature

• 1 ½ cups sour cream room temperature

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

For those who live outside of New England, maple syrup has always carried an aura of rarity and decadence. Here, where we enjoy hearty daily doses, we tend to agree: there is something about the flavor that makes every drop seem special. For those who see maple syrup as a luxury, here is a recipe luxurious enough to warrant its use as an ingredient. Bon appetit!

1. Preheat oven to 350º

2. Combine cracker or cookie crumbs and 1 tablespoon dry maple sugar with the 5 tablespoons of softened butter. Mix thoroughly and press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Put in the freezer.

3. Bring maple syrup to a boil in medium size saucepan over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes, remove from heat, and stir in the cream. Chill. While the maple and cream mixture cools, beat cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add remaining 4 tablespoons of dry maple sugar and beat briefly.

4. Add eggs one at a time, stirring thoroughly after each one. Gradually beat in the cooled maple syrup and cream mixture,  followed by the sour cream and vanilla.  Spread the cheesecake batter in the chilled pan and bake 1 hour. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Cover, then chill for 6 hours or so before serving.

5. Serve fresh out of the fridge, each slice sprinkled with heaping spoonful of Mount Cabot Maple dry maple sugar. Keep leftovers refrigerated, although you probably won’t have any leftovers to worry about.