Brown Sugar Cheesecake + Pecan Glaze for Thanksgiving
This Pecan Pie Cheesecake is a showstopper, the perfect cheesecake for Thanksgiving! A graham cracker crust, brown sugar cheesecake, and pecan pie glaze. Autumn dessert perfection!
Fall is just around the corner, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been this excited! When I was working full-time in an office, I didn’t get to soak in the seasons during weekdays. Now that I’m blogging from home, I can enjoy nice days working on the porch or keep the windows open! It’s put me in the mood for fall food pretty early this year, hence, this Pecan Pie Cheesecake recipe!
As a result, I’ve published a ton of side dishes for Thanksgiving already like these easy green beans and these mashed potatoes. I think it’s high time I shared a dessert that is Thanksgiving (and fall) appropriate!
This Pecan Pie Cheesecake is something that I dreamed up as a combination of two of my favorite desserts, cheesecake and pecan pie. I experimented with the cheesecake itself, using brown sugar to lend a deeper flavor and some caramel color. When it came out of the oven, it smells like creme brulee. SO good!
And the pecan pie glaze. Oh my goodness, this glaze. I played around with traditional pecan pie filling ingredients to find the perfect combination and thickness so that the glaze was glossy and thick, but still had a little bit of movement to it. I pictured the pecans piled high and the glaze dripping down the sides, wanting this Pecan Pie Cheesecake to be the perfect dessert for fall occasions!
My Mom always kept corn syrup on hand, and swore it was the best thing to use when you’re trying to create a glaze or glossy filling. It’s a super versatile ingredient. Growing up, we used it to make caramels, pies and glazes.
Using corn syrup is perfect for the glaze on this beautiful Pecan Pie Cheesecake. It gave the glaze a smooth, amazing texture and let the flavor of the brown sugar, vanilla and pecans shine!
What’s the best thing about this Pecan Pie Cheesecake? Other than it being crazy delicious, it’s super low maintenance. Why? Because the yummy pecan pie glaze covers any cracks or imperfections in the cheesecake.
If your cheesecake ends up having a crack or indentation in the middle, don’t stress! Nobody will know once you put the glaze on. They’ll just be singing your praises for making them a fabulous fall dessert.
Brown Sugar Cheesecake with Pecan Glaze
This cheesecake recipe is awesome for Thanksgiving! Graham cracker crust, brown sugar cheesecake and a pecan glaze!
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 9-10 graham crackers, crushed
- 6 tbsp butter, melted
- ¼ cup sugar
- â…› teaspoon salt
For the cheesecake:
- 24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons molasses (or white sugar)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup sour cream
- 4 eggs
For the glaze:
- ½ cup corn syrup (light or dark)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 ounces pecans, whole or chopped
Instructions
- Make the crust: Mix crust ingredients in small bowl until the mixture is wet and well combined.
- Grease the inside of a 9 inch springform pan. Press crust mixture into bottom of pan and up the sides, about 1 inch. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
- Make the filling: Preheat oven to 350ºF /180ºC.
- In a large bowl beat cream cheese, butter and sugar until completely smooth.
- Add molasses, vanilla, sour cream and cream and beat just until incorporated.
- Add eggs, one at a time, barely waiting for one to incorporate before adding the next one.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan, bake for 40 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 300F and bake for an additional 30 minutes.*
- Turn oven off and crack oven door. Allow cheesecake to cool down in the oven for about one hour.For the glaze:
- Make the glaze: While cheesecake is cooling, place Karo Syrup, brown sugar and vanilla in small sauce pan and heat on low until the brown sugar has melted.
- Stir in pecans and remove from heat. Allow to rest:
- Add to top of mostly cooled cheesecake. I recommend you add about ¼ of the glaze to start, spread, and then add more. You may not use the entire amount, it's your preference.
Notes
If you are concerned that the top of your cheesecake will burn, you can loosely tent it with aluminum foil at any time. Monitor towards the end of bake time to be sure. The cake needs all of the allotted time to cook through fully.
You will want to have your cheesecake on a large serving tray or platter in event of over-run. The glaze is very sticky, so make sure you have something in place to catch the drips!
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Nutrition Information
Yield 10 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 781Total Fat 56gSaturated Fat 28gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 22gCholesterol 199mgSodium 489mgCarbohydrates 66gFiber 2gSugar 55gProtein 9g
The nutrition for this recipe is calculated by an app and may be incorrect.
This Pecan Pie Cheesecake has all the flavors I love! I should try your recipe this weekend!
Recipe is amazing. Where are the directions for the glaze.
Thank you Shirley! That was an oversight on my part, I hand write everything as I’m cooking, and the glaze made it onto the back side of the page! 😉 I have it updated.
Such a delicious dessert; and perfect for fall! Looking forward to enjoying this all season long!
So great for Thanksgiving! Just love the glaze and pecans!
YUM!!! I love this delicious version!!!
I need a slice!
I didn’t find the recipe for the glaze…does it need some cooking time on stove top before covering the cheesecake??
Hi Carol! I added them to the end of the instructions, so sorry! You will want to combine the ingredients on low to give the brown sugar a chance to melt down.
When does the glaze put on?
Hi Kathy! I updated the instructions for the glaze, sorry about that!
Can’t wait to try this. It looks really great.
Thanks Joann! I hope you enjoy!
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In the recipe above you have this listed two times, Tbs molasses (or white sugar). Do we need to add this twice?
Thanks
Hi I am going to make your Cheesecake but noticed that you have 2 Tbsp of molasses or white sugar listed 2 times in the filling recipe. Is this correct?
Also instead of the Karo syrup can we substitute with maple syrup instead?
Thank you
Hi Paula! I’m so sorry about that, that was a typo on my part. I’ve fixed it. You only use the molasses (or sugar) once. I would guess I had it written down a certain way, then changed it to try to get it into “order of use” and forgot to delete the original one!
I’ve done a bit of research and it looks like you CAN substitute maple syrup. I haven’t personally tried it. It did caution that the recipe would then taste more like maple syrup, but in this case, that’s not a bad thing. 😉
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I made this for Christmas Eve dinner and it was absolutely delicious! Everyone said that it was the best cheesecake I’ve ever made. All of the flavors melded together beautifully. Thank you for this recipe!
Oh Christy, you absolutely MADE my day! 🙂 I loved developing this recipe… I agree… I think the brown sugar cheesecake and the pecan topping are PERFECT together. Thank you for giving it a try AND reporting back – you made this food blogger’s day!