White Chocolate Banana Pudding Cheesecake

Pin It

I’ll give you a minute to let that sink in. 

Yep. 

Uh huh.

Oh, and it has a Nilla Wafer Crust. Its true. 

I had this cheesecake last month at my favorite restaurant in Durham, NC when I was home for my dad’s retirement party. When I saw it on the menu I’m pretty sure that drool fell out of my mouth onto the table. Clearly, I ordered it and did my best to make a barrier with my arms between my family and the cheesecake so I didn’t have to share 1 bite. I’ve thought about it every day since and when my dad came to visit me last weekend we decided that we would do our best to recreate it. We did a pretty darn good job of it- and next time it’ll be perfect. 

CRUST

• 1 1/3 cup crushed Nilla Wafers 
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, crush the Nilla Wafers. Pour into a bowl and add the melted butter and sugar. Stir to combine. 

Pour into a greased springform pan. With your hands press the crust down on the bottoms and about 1/2 inch up the sides. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. 

CHEESECAKE

• 3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon banana extract (maybe more if you want)
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips, melted

With an electric mixer beat the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and banana extract and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add melted chocolate and beat just until combined. 

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Cheesecake will still have a little jiggle and be slightly golden on the edges. Let cool completely and the refrigerate for 4+ hours. Serve with sliced bananas and whipped cream, if you so desire. ENJOY. 

P.S. If you want to avoid the top of the cheesecake cracking you may want to bake it in a water bath, however, I’ve had such bad experiences with springform pans in water baths that I didn’t want to chance it… Yes, my cheesecake had a huge crack down the center-  and yes, it still tasted out of this world.