Preheat oven to 350°. Combine the crumbs, sugar & pecans in a bowl. Add the melted butter & mix well. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom & 1 1/2" up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Filling:
Three 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 TBL flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup pecan halves, toasted

Beat together the cream cheese, brown sugar, evaporated milk, flour & vanilla. Add the eggs & beat just until blended. Pour into the hot baked crust. Bake 50-55 minutes. Cool in the pan 30 minutes, loosen the sides of the springform & remove the rim. Cool completely. Arrange the pecan halves on top of the cheesecake.~~

Pecan Sauce:
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 TBL cornstarch
2 TBL butter
1/2 cup broken pecan pieces

In a saucepan, mix the brown sugar & cornstarch. Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil & stir over medium heat until thickened & bubbly, about 5 minutes. Stir in the butter & add the pecans. Serve the sauce over the cheesecake or pass in a sauceboat.~~Without Reservations

Notes: Almond Praline Topping: In small saucepan, combine 1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar and 1/3 cup whipping cream. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in 1/2 cup chopped,toasted slivered almonds. Spoon evenly over cheesecake. (For 13x9-inch pan, double all topping ingredients; simmer 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened).

Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 T sugar
3 T butter, melted

Grease bottom and sides of 9" springform pan. Mix crust ingredients, press onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 350 for 10 minutes, cool.

Filling:
4 (8oz) pkgs cream cheese, room temp (Neuchafel is OK too)
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 T cornstarch
dash salt
1 T vanilla
3 eggs plus 2 egg yolks, room temp
1/3 cup heavy cream

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch and salt until no lumps remain, beat with cream cheese and vanilla on low speed until smooth, making sure to scrape down sides often.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended, do not overmix. Stir in cream.
Pour over cooled crust. Release air bubbles from batter by gently dropping pan on counter a few times, let sit for awhile to give the air bubbles a chance to rise to the top.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (no need for a water bath since using cornstarch in batter), then turn off oven (cake will not look done) and let cake cool in the oven with the door propped open (lets cool slowly to prevent cracking).
After the oven has cooled a bit, run a knife around the rim to loosen cake from the pan (cake sticking to pan sides while cooling causes cracking). Return to oven to continue cooling. When cake has cooled, cover and place in refrigerator - I place in the front, knowing that the door would be opened often and it would chill more gradually.
Refrigerate at least 8 hours, up to 7 days.

Optional - Sour Cream Topping: combine 1 cup sour cream, 2 T sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Spread over cooled cake.

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Chocolate Almond Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/3 cup butter, melted
---Mix together, press into bottom of a 9" springform pan

Filling:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
2 T flour
3 (8oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla 3 eggs

Mix together sugar, cocoa and flour with whisk. Combine cream cheese, sugar mixture and sour cream, beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and extracts on low speed just until combined. Pour over crust. Bake 425 for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 250, bake 55 minutes more. Cool on rack, refrigerate. Garnish with toasted sliced almonds.

Cindy

I took Ginger's Best Cheesecake recipe and
twixed it a bit and it came out great!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Use a 9" spring form pan.
I used a pre-made graham cracker pie crust,
(only because I had one) broke it into to pieces.
Added 2 T. melted butter to it and
patted it down into the bottom of the pan.

Cheese Filling:
Five - 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 big can Libby's pumpkin "pie mix"
(I cheated - it has all the spices in it!)
1 3/4 cup brown sugar
3 TBL flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c. evaporated milk
(it was leftover from the pumpkin pies I made.)
6 eggs

Mix all the ingredients together - Pour in the cheese cake pan.
(I always do a waterbath to back mine --Cover the bottom
-> up the sides with foil and
sit it in a Large baking dish with apx 1" of water.)
Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour.
Then 1-1/2 hours at 325 degrees.
I had so much filling, I put the remainder in a corning wear bowl and baked it.
Good thing-cause we sure couldn't have waited
24 hours to dig into the big one!

****I give all the credit to Ginger though - it was her recipe I started with.
It was good and very rich
Wish there would have been left overs.......cheryl