Lavender Cheesecake Squares Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F.
• Bring large saucepan of water to boil; pour into casserole dish. Place on bottom oven rack. (This acts as a makeshift water bath and turns the oven into a "steam room," to help prevent the cheesecake from cracking as it bakes.)
• Combine cracker crumbs, butter and brown sugar; press onto bottom of parchment-lined 13x9-inch baking dish.
• Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add granulated sugar; mix well. Add all remaining ingredients except eggs; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended.
• Pour over crust.
• Bake 1 hour 5 min. or until center of cheesecake is almost set.
• Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven, with door partially open, 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven; cool completely.
• Refrigerate 2 hours. Use parchment handles to remove cheesecake from baking dish before cutting into squares to serve.

Steps:

• To make crust, crumb the graham crackers.
• Stir in the powdered sugar and butter until well blended.
• Press mixture into 9" springform pan, going halfway up the sides.
• Bake crust at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, let cool before filling.
• To make lavender syrup, mix sugar and water in a saucepan.
• Add lavender to water (you don't need to use the whole package, I used about 3/4 pkg).
• Simmer until you have a heavy syrup (approx reduced by half).
• Remove lavender buds (place buds on a plate to cool and crystallize for use as decoration if desired). You now have the lavender syrup used in later steps.
• To make filling, soften the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl (it helps to remove from refrigerator a little beforehand).
• Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing in well after each addition.
• Mix in sour cream.
• Mix in vanilla and lavender syrup.
• Whisk eggs and yolks in a small bowl.
• Add egg mixture to batter and mix in until just mixed.
• Fold in whipped cream taking care not to over mix.
• Pour into cooled crust.
• Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
• Reduce heat to 225 degrees and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
• Turn off heat and open oven door slightly, let cool in oven 30 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool on the counter 30 minutes.
• At this point it should be cool enough to run a knife around the outside to make sure it has separated from the pan and remove the springform side.
• Leave on pan bottom and refrigerate for 3 hours.
• To make frosting, mix sour cream and sugar, sweetening to taste.
• Spread on top of chilled cheesecake to make a smooth flat surface, quantity of sweetened sour cream may need to be adjusted depending on amount of shrinkage in the middle.
• To make piping, whisk together lavender syrup and cornstarch in a saucepan.
• Add lemon juice and water.
• Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens.
• Color with food dye to desired shade of purple (or whatever you prefer).
• Let cool before decorating.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• CRUST: Butter an 8" square baking dish.
• In a bowl cream the butter and brown sugar together. Stir in the flour, pecans and lavender.
• *Reserve* 1 cup of the crust mixture. Press the remaining mixture into the baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
• FILLING: While the crust bakes, prepare the filling by beating together the white sugar and cream cheese. Next beat in the egg, milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth.
• Pour the filling into the baked crust then sprinkle evenly with the reserved crust topping.
• Bake 25 minutes. Remove from rack and cool 10 minutes. To serve, cut into squares and place on cake platter. Garnish with fresh lavender sprigs if desired.
• Keep stored in refrigerator; covered well.