A Host of Bacon Cheesecakes, With Maple-Bacon Ice Cream

For this contest, I wanted to make something really good. So after some thought, I decided that Bacon Cheesecake would be absolutely amazing... Sure, I could just take someone else's recipe and add bacon, but I wanted something REALLY good. I brought in my Aunt (Who is a an extremely good cook), and we came up with this.
It makes four different types of cheesecake:
Sugar-Free Bacon Cheesecake,
Brown Sugar Bacon PB Cheesecake,
Brown Sugar - Peanut Butter Bacon Cheesecake (in a PB cookie crust),
and Bacon Cheesecake with bacon peanut brittle (In an english muffin - Bacon crust).
You can either make 2 small ones of each, 6 tarts of each, or one large one of each.
It would also be easy to just take one part of the recipe, and quadruple it to make a large batch of just one type.

There's also a recipe for a sour cream-based ice cream I invented, that has bacon, maple syrup and vanilla flavouring. 
A real treat for any bacon lover!

All four are exceptional, and I really encourage you to bake all four!

Ahh. Like any instructable, the first step is making sure you have everything ready.
The main things you will need that aren't pictured are:
Tart Shells (You could make these yourself, I was lazy. If you're only using these for the whole batch, you'll need 24),
beaters or a mixer,
an oven,
and a fridge.


The ingredients needed are:
24 oz Cream cheese (This was 3 Philadelphia packs),
1/2 Tbs Vanilla extract ,
3 Large Eggs ,
3/4 of a cup of Peanut Butter ,
1lb Bacon (Or as much as you want),
1 cup Brown Suga r,
3 Tbs Icing Sugar,
1/2 Cup grated Cheese (I used swiss Gruyere. Turned out great.),
2 cups full fat Sour Cream,
1/3 Cup Maple Syrup,
and a few PB Cookies (Only needed if you're making the crust on the next step.)

For the Peanut Brittle, you can either buy some or use the following ingredients and go to step 3
(Which is great just by itself!)

1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup light corn syrup
1/2 Cup water
1 Tablespoon butter
3/4 Cup red skinned peanuts
1 Teaspoon baking soda
2 Teaspoons vanilla
8 Bacon slices , torn into small pieces.



(Sorry about the different units...)

*PB means Peanut Butter, to anyone who doesn't know.




When you're sure you have all of these,
preheat the oven to 325°F.

If your bacon is not already cooked, I recommend the following method, as this is a great way to cook bacon, no spatters, no mess.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil.

Open a pound of bacon and lay slices on the baking sheet as close as possible without overlapping.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. (The amount of time depends very much on how crispy you like your bacon.)
When the bacon looks good, remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn the slices over with a pair of tongs.

Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

When it's almost finished, remove the bacon from the oven and lay the slices on paper towels to absorb excess fat.
Then, put it back in the oven until perfect.

 

If you're going to make your own, this is the recipe I made. If you're going to do this, do it the day before.  I suggest just using store-bought brittle to save yourself the trouble, but this really is excellent.


Ingredients again:
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup light corn syrup
1/2 Cup water
1 Tablespoon butter
3/4 Cup red skinned peanuts
1 Teaspoon baking soda
2 Teaspoons vanilla
8 Bacon slices, torn into small pieces

Lightly butter a baking sheet.
Put the sugar, corn syrup, water, and butter into a 2 quart heavy-bottomed saucepan.
Boil, stirring frequently, until the candy thermometor registers 305 degrees F. Remove from the heat and quickly add the remaining ingredients. Pour onto the baking sheet and spread as thin as possible.
When cool, break into pieces. 

If you wish to use the Cookie Crust, here's the recipe I made:
Peanut Butter Cookie CrustMakes enough crust for one 9 inch springform pan

9 Ounces Peanut Butter cookies, slightly underbaked and still chewey
1 Cup red skinned peanuts
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Ounces crumbled peanut brittle
2 Tablespoons butter
4 Bacon slices, torn into small pieces

Break up the cookies and place into a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until finely crumbled.
Store in a ziplock container until ready to use.

The first step is to open your packages of cream cheese, and to blend them together till they're smooth and creamy.
Once you've done this, crack your three eggs into a bowl and slowly mix them in, one by one.
Once it's consistently blended, continue to the next step.

Take 1/4 of the batter (about 1 cup) and mix the grated cheese in.

Then place a slice of bacon into each shell you're using.

Fill 6 tarts (or 2 small cakes, or one large one... ) up to the brim with batter!
Then, garnish with another small (or gigantic) slice of bacon!

For the second type of cheesecake, there is white icing sugar and peanut butter.
Take 1/3 of the leftover batter (about 1 cup...) and add two tablespoons of icing sugar,
as well as 1/4 of a cup of PB.
Bllend till it's smooth.

I chose to make 2 large ones with this recipe, so I'm using using an english muffin cookie crust. You can just use your own crusts, or follow the following recipe my aunt made:

English Muffin Cookie Crust

4 Ounces English muffins
3 Ounces red skinned peanuts
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
3 Ounces crumbled peanut brittle
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
4 Bacon slices, torn into small pieces

Toast the English muffins until slightly dried out and lightly browned. Let cool.

Slice the muffins into 1" cubes and add with the remaining ingredients to the bowl of a food processor.
Pulse until finely crumbled.

Press firmly into the bottom of a springform pan (I used a flat glass to do this).
This is enough for 4 small pans, or 2 large ones.


Flatten against the bottom of the pan, then continue....

Put half a cup (so half of the batter with PB and sugar) in each Spring-form Pan.
Then, place a slice of bacon in the middle of each.

Put aside then continue to the third batch!

This one has EVERYTHING. 
PB, Brown Sugar, Brittle, Cookie Crust and the bacon is blended right in!

Rip up some bacon (I took 4 slices) and put them in with all of your remaining batter. Add 1/2 a cup of PB and 1/2 a cup of brown sugar then blend till it's creamy.

If you made the cookie crust, flatten it onto the bottoms of the two pans.
Then fill each one with the third mixture, and cover with brittle.


You should have about 1 cup leftover.

This one has everything from the deluxe except the crust, but it makes up for it by having brittle blended right in.

Crush some of the brittle in a mortar and pestle (or however you want) then mix in with the remaining batter.
When it's mixed in, fill the remaining tarts.

I baked everything at once, but you could do them all separately. Bake them for between 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway. (This changes based on the size of pan...)
When done, put them on a cooling rack.
Proceed to the next step once you've put them all in.

This is the Glaze I used, that you freeze the leftover to use as ice cream when the cakes are done chilling.
Mix the maple syrup and vanilla in with the sour cream, then sprinkle the sugar on top.
Blend for about two minutes on high.

Spread a thin layer on whichever ones you want, then put them back in the oven at 450 degrees F for around 6 minutes.

Put the small ones in the fridge for an hour, and the larger ones in the freezer for an hour.

(After an hour, keep them all in the fridge.)

This is really good with chocolate whipped cream, and the sugar-free ones make an excellent breakfast.
Nutmeg and ground ginger go very well on top,
and if I were to remake this I would suggest adding some directly to the batter.


Add some comments with suggestions and if you like them, I'll post them here!