Not a lot of people celebrate Shavuot, which is a shame because it’s such a great holiday for dairy food! When I think cheesecake, my mind immediately wanders to Cheesecake Factory. Although the restaurant itself is totally trief, this recipe isn’t!

The Pretty-Darn-Close Cheesecake Factory Banana Cream Cheesecake

20 vanilla sandwich cookies
¼ cup margarine, melted
24 oz cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
3 eggs (check for blood spots in the eggs – very important in kosher cooking!)
¾ cup very ripe, mashed bananas (about 2)
½ cup whipping cream
2 tspn vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Place cookies in a blender; process with on/off pulse until finely crushed.

Add margarine; process with pulses until blended. Press crumb mixture onto bottom of 10″ springform pan; refrigerate.

Beat cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and cornstarch; beat until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas, whipping cream, and vanilla. Pour cream cheese mixture into prepared crust. Place pan on cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 200°F (DO NOT forget to reduce temperature – very important) and continue baking 75 minutes or until center is almost setbsp Loosen edge of cheesecake; cool completely on wire rack before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate cheesecake, uncovered, 6 hours or overnight.

You can make a whipped cream topping by whipping cream, powdered sugar and a touch of vanilla together and piping over the top. Yum!

Recipe adapted from RecipeSecrets.net.