Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

There’s a reason our family has been making our grandma’s cheesecake recipe for over 40 years. We’re making our grandma’s classic cheesecake with vanilla bean. We use vanilla bean paste for the best vanilla bean flavor in both the cream cheese filling and the creme fraiche topping. This vanilla bean cheesecake our new favorite twist on a classic cheesecake.

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Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Cooling 7 hours hours

Total Time 9 hours hours

Servings 12

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 ½ sticks butter melted
• 2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs 15 sheets a little less than 2 packages that come in a box of 3
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 5 packages of 8 oz cream cheese 40 0z total room temperature
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 ¾ Cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 3 tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 5 eggs + 2 egg yolks

Topping:

• 1 cup creme fraiche
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Instructions

Crust:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F
• In a food processor or with a ziploc bag/rolling pin, grind ~2 packages of graham crackers until fine
• As soon as the crackers are fine, measure out two cups. Combine 2 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs with melted butter, salt, and sugar. Mix until the ingredients are all incorporated
  
• In a springform pan, press the mixture down with a measuring cup or other flat surface until it forms a very compact layer
• Place the pan on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes (or until slightly golden) and set aside to cool while you make the filling (the butter may slightly melt out of the springform pan so this is why we recommend placing it on a cookie sheet)
  

Filling:

• Butter the sides of the springform pan
• Beat the room temperature cream cheese for ~30 seconds until smooth. Add in the rest of the filling ingredients and mix with a hand or stand mixer until just evenly combined ~1 minute. Don’t mix too long as the mixture will get overly fluffy.
  
• Pour the mixture over the cooled crust
  
• Bake in a 500 degree F oven for 6-8 minutes (until just golden on the edges). Reduce the temperature to 200 degrees F and bake for 1 hour
• Turn off the oven temperature, open the oven to remove the heat, and prop it open with a wooden spoon. Cool in the oven for 3 hours
• After 3 hours, remove from the oven and refrigerate for at least 4 hour or overnight. Add the topping at least an hour before serving and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Topping:

• Stir together creme fraiche, sugar, and vanilla bean