Fall is here and it’s prime baking season. Homemade bread, cookies, pastries, scones, and cakes are some of the things that I love to bake for friends and family as we start to approach the holiday season.

Cheesecake is my brother’s favorite dessert. To celebrate my brother’s new job, I decided to bake one of his favorites, vanilla bean cheesecake with a twist. I found this recipe on Delish for a Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, which is simply a vanilla bean cheesecake with torched sugar on top. Overall, it’s a pretty easy recipe that anyone can make. The longest and most difficult part is being patient enough to wait for the cheesecake to set overnight. Scroll through to see how I made this cheesecake from scratch with some tips to help you along the way.

Step 1: Gather ingredients

Cheesecake is a relatively cheap dessert to make. The most expensive components are the vanilla bean element (I used fresh vanilla bean, but I also bought pure Vanilla extract just in case) and raspberries. The rest of the dessert is just crushed graham cracker, eggs, and cream cheese.

Note: When I recently bought pure vanilla extract at Trader Joes, I got carded. I was totally caught off guard; I’ve never gotten carded to buy vanilla extract before. The kind cashier told me that because of the alcohol content (about 35%) pure vanilla extract contains, it’s an item that requires being 21+. The more you know!

Step 2: Prepping the graham cracker crust. Mix the melted butter, sugar, and graham cracker together.

Step 3: Press the graham cracker mixture into the pie tin. The recipe calls for using a springform pan which will allow you to remove it after baking. This is how you can see the pretty layers in a traditional cheesecake, but since I don’t have one, I opted for a more homestyle ceramic pie dish.

Step 4: To smooth out the cream cheese while it’s still a bit cold, I handled it with my hands first. This helps warm up the cream cheese mixture before adding the remaining ingredients.

Step 5: Add eggs and egg yolks. Beat with a hand mixer until combined.

Step 6: The best part: cut open the vanilla bean and shave out the seeds. I love the smell of fresh vanilla bean.

Step 7: Mix in the sugar (I used 3/4 cups), flour, kosher salt, and sour cream.

Step 8: Gently pour in the cream cheese mixture into the graham cracker crust.

Step 9: Prep a pan with water to set the pie in. Pour with enough water to about half the height of the pie dish or tin. Traditional Crème Brûlée is baked in water to create a smooth, creamy texture. To create a similar effect, the recipe called for a similar baking method.

Step 10: Bake for an hour and a half at 325 degrees.

Step 11: Let the cheesecake cool and set overnight.

This is what my cheesecake looked like the next day. I love how the cheesecake has the same golden color as Crème Brûlée.

Step 12: Top with sugar and torch.

Step 13: Decorate with raspberries and now my cheesecake is ready to enjoy!

Volia et bon appétit!

Why have one dessert when you can have two in one? This cheesecake is a perfect dessert to bring for any gathering. It’s perfect for any age, wonderful to share, and simple enough to make. The only catch is when storing leftovers, the burnt sugar will melt on top of the cheesecake, so you can either re-apply a layer of sugar or just continue to enjoy as is.

As always thank you so much for reading and let me know if you have any suggestions on what I should bake next in the comments section down below. See the full recipe with instruction here.

xx

Kiana