Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Cheesecake

One of my most favorite desserts is cheesecake. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought what is the most delicious, decadent, rich dessert I want this year?
Instead of the traditional pecan or pumpkin pie, I thought maybe  a really good spiced cheesecake. Something for the holiday season, sweet potato?


Sweet Potato it is. But not just sweet potato, sweet potato and peanut butter. You're probably thinking what an odd combination? When I was coming up with this recipe and sharing my ideas with the people I know, they thought the same thing. But it works! The sweetness of the sweet potato (hence the name) and the potent flavor of the peanut butter together has an overpowering sensation in your mouth that will make you feel like your in food heaven. Or as someone told me, "One bite and you're in a diabetic coma." Ha Ha. You wanna know a secret? The peanut butter is not in the cheesecake per se, but it's in the caramel sauce. Huh? Why? It took me several times to get this recipe right, 3 times to be exact. Third times the charm, right? The reason why the other 2 times did not work, I put the peanut butter in the filling. The creaminess of the peanut butter along with the sweet potato puree made the cheesecake not setting right in the middle like it was suppose to. So I decided, "Hey, put it in the caramel sauce!" Clever, I think so?


Just letting you know in advance that this cheesecake recipe will take you all day to make it. If you really want to show off to your friends and family coming over for the holidays, it is well worth every minute in the kitchen. It would be a hit and would make all your guests forget about about all those boring desserts. If you do decide to make this, I suggest making it the day before. Trust me, you do NOT want to be that crazy person at your thanksgiving or holiday gathering.

Here is the recipe:

Total prep time: 45 min.   Total cooking time: 2 hr 15 min.  Total cooling time: 5 hrs.  Total time: 8 hrs.
Serves: 12 - 16
Cooking Skill: Intermediate

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/2 c. graham crackers crumbs
1/4 cup of salted pretzel sticks (handful)
1/3 cup  or 5 tbsp of unsalted butter (melted)

Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce:

1/4 c. of butter
3/4 c. of light or dark brown sugar
2 tbsp. of creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. of heavy cream
1 c. of chopped nuts (choice of your kind)

Cheesecake filling:

2 c. of sweet potato puree (roasted) or 1 (15 oz.) can
2 (8 oz.) of softened cream cheese (room temp.)
1 c. of white sugar
1/3 c. of sour cream
1/4 c. of heavy cream
2 tsp. of cinnamon
1 tsp. of allspice
1/2 tsp. of nutmeg
3 egg yolks (room temp.)
1 whole egg (room temp.)

First, I preheated my oven to 375. Washed and cleaned my sweet potatoes off with water, getting the dirt off. Of course, that's necessary and sanitary. Placed them in a roasting pan, stabbed them with a fork so they wouldn't burst. Slathered a little vegetable oil on top of each one. Once the oven was preheated, I placed them in the oven for 1 hour. *If you have canned sweet potato puree, omit this step.

While the sweet potatoes were roasting in the oven, I took my graham crackers, broke them up quarterly and put them in my chopper.  A whole pack plus half a pack of crackers should equal to 1 1/2 cup of crumbs. It depends on how many crackers are in a pack. If it does not equal to 1 1/2 cup of crumbs, add a few more until it does.

Then instead of adding 1/4 tsp. of salt, I added a handful of salted pretzel sticks. Pulsed them into the graham cracker crumbs.

I took 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) of unsalted butter and melted it in a microwave safe bowl for about 30 seconds. Poured in the melted butter on top and pulsed it in with the crumbs. The texture should look and feel like wet sand.

Poured my graham cracker crust in a springform pan. Patted it down and pushed along the sides of the pan.

Then I pushed the graham cracker crust aside and started the peanut butter caramel sauce. I know this is a little off the wall question, How do you pronounce caramel? kar - mel, kare - mel, or kere - mel? A lot of people in the south, including me, pronounce it kare - mel. Anyway, excuse my ADD, back to the recipe.

I placed the 1/4 cup of butter and 3/4 cup of light brown sugar in a saucepan on the stove and heated it on low until the butter and sugar was completely dissolved, stirring constantly.

Turned the heat up to medium high and let it come to a rolling boil. Once it came to a rolling boil, It only took a minute, I took it off the heat. Added and stirred in the 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, 1/4 cup of heavy cream, and 1 cup of chopped nuts. 

Now here it comes!  I grabbed the graham cracker crumbs that I pushed aside and drizzled in half of the hot caramel sauce. Awesomeness!!! Placed the graham cracker crust in the refrigerator for 30 min.

By the time all that was done, the sweet potatoes were ready to come out  of the oven. Once they came out of the oven. I took a knife and stuck it through the potatoes to make sure they were done. I let the potatoes cool for at least 15 - 20 min before peeling and pureeing them.

After the potatoes cooled off enough, I peeled and pureed 2 cups of sweet potatoes. Put them into a measuring cup and placed them into the refrigerator to cool off for a few more minutes. * You want the potatoes to be completely cooled off before pouring it in your filling.

While the potatoes were cooling off in the fridge, I got my stand mixer out, I love that thing. It is a lazy baker's best friend. Now if you don't have a stand mixer, a hand mixer would be fine too. Put the 2 (8 oz) softened room temperature cream cheese and 1 cup of white sugar into the stand mixer and mixed on medium speed for about a minute. Once that was mixed, I poured in a 1/3 cup of sour cream and 1/4 cup of heavy cream and mixed it in on medium speed for about a minute. The mixture should look like this

Then I took my sweet potato puree out of the fridge and mixed it in along with the 2 tsp. of cinnamon, 1 tsp. of allspice, and 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg at medium speed for a minute. Poured in 3 room temperature egg yolks, and 1 whole egg ( one at a time) and mix at medium speed. *Be sure that you pour in the eggs every 20 second intervals. Also scrap the edges with a rubber spatula while its mixing. You do NOT want to over mix your filling. You want it to have a shiny look. The filling should look like this.

Then I got my graham cracker crust back out of the refrigerator and poured my filling on top of the crust. Smoothed it out with a rubber spatula. * Be sure to scrap the batter off the sides of the springform pan so it will not stick to the sides when it's done.

I preheated my oven to 350 degrees, grabbed a roasting pan and filled it with HOT boiling water. *Be sure that the water is hot, you do NOT want the water to be cold or it will not create steam that you need to have. This is a water bath method to keep your cheesecake from having cracks. All you have to do is take a piece of foil and wrap it around the bottom and up the sides on the outside of the springform pan so the water will not leak in. Place it in a roasting pan and pour your boiling hot water in. I know a lot of people don't like cracks in their cheesecake. But if you don't particularly care if the cake has cracks, omit this step.

I did it differently than the usual water bath method. I Placed my roasting pan full with hot boiling water on the bottom rack and placed my cheesecake on the top rack. Bake cheesecake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

After the cheesecake is through baking, DO NOT take it out of the oven. Leave it in the oven with the door ajar. Let it stand and cool with the oven off for 30 minutes.

After letting it stand in the oven for 30 min, I placed it on a wire cooling rack and let it cool for another 30 minutes. *You may notice that the cheesecake will be jiggly. Don't worry, it's suppose to be, but not too jiggly. Never mind the cracks in the middle, I made those cracks by poking it with a knife to make sure that it came out clean. Made the mistake before of not checking the middle and after letting it cool in refrigerator for several hours and taking the rim off, it fell to pieces. So this time I checked. Also, if you don't want poked holes in the middle of your cake like mine, check it with a thermometer. If it reads 160 degrees, its ready. I didn't have a thermometer, so that's the reason why I poked it with a knife. Anyway, those cracks are going to get covered up with the peanut butter caramel drizzle, right?

After it cooled on the rack for 30 minutes, I placed it in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 hours so it can chill and set properly. *It's best if you leave the cheesecake in the fridge overnight.

After 3 - 4 hours or overnight of chilling and setting in the refrigerator, I took it out and took my leftover caramel sauce out that I made before. Heated up the sauce in a microwave safe bowl (because it had been sitting in the fridge for awhile) for 30 seconds. Drizzled the sauce and some chopped pecans and peanuts on top. Removed the springform pan rim.

Viola! You have Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Cheesecake!

Now take a bite and Enjoy!