Baked Banana Cheesecake—Prototype 6:
 
This mid-2016 update is largely modeled after my third strawberry prototype, but for the banana prototype presented here, I have carefully increased the baking time in an effort to get this one to end up more firm.
 
3-Cheese Blend (1CT-1NC-4YG):
Prepare ahead of time 32 ounces of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers (that's 64 ounces altogether) of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 8 ounces of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese and 8 ounces of softened Neufchatel cheese ("light cream cheese").

Crust:
2 oz. melted, white chocolate
8 oz. (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (see above)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. All-Bran, ground up

Place the resulting mixture in the greased pan and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 5-10 minutes, depending on the mixture's thickness (closer to 10 minutes if thin enough to be fully distributed across the pan's bottom by gentle shaking, closer to 5 minutes if thick enough to require spreading out this mixture by pressing on it with a utensil and/or fingers), then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall.

Batter:
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
40 oz. (5 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above)
2 teaspoons vanilla
12 ounces of banana puree (tip: about 18 ounces of whole bananas, i.e., with the outer peels included—hopefully two large bananas—should yield a sufficient amount of the inner fruit)
1/2 cup arrowroot
5 eggs

Original Baking Procedure:
Expect about 8-9 cups of the resulting batter, but do not add this to the pan all at once. Rather, this needs to be done in three installments. Wrap the pan in foil just before adding the first batter installment (to minimize the foil's disturbance and therefore its leakage risk, do not put it on any earlier).

For each of the first two installments, gently scoop about 3 cups of batter into the pan. After adding an installment, bake the pan with its contents for 30 minutes. For the first installment, bake at 325 degrees. For the second installment, continue baking at 325, but only for the first 15 minutes here—for the remaining 15 minutes, reduce the temperature and bake at 300 degrees. For both installments here, bake with the pan in a tub filled with at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch of boiling water, but (to reduce spillage risks) do not fill the tub all the way at this point, because the whole tub-and-pan assembly is going to need to be removed from the oven (in order to comfortably add contents to the pan) between installments.

After these first two installments are done, there should be about 2-3 cups of batter left, with 60 minutes of baking time reached at this point (30 minutes for each of the first two installments). Now comes the third installment—carefully add the last of this batter on top of the pan's earlier installments (the entire surface should be fully coated). Next, return the entire pan-and-tub assembly to the oven. At this point, fill up the tub generously with boiling water. Resume baking at 300 degrees for another 120 minutes (based upon usage of a 9 1/2" pan).

Afterward, shut the oven off, and leave its door slightly ajar, with the cheesecake still inside—and in the tub—for an hour. Next, remove the cheesecake from the oven and tub. Continue to cool it down at room temperature for another two hours. After doing so, remove the cheesecake from pan and refrigerate.

Banana Cheesecake—Prototype 6

Looks like the increased baking time—per the original baking procedure, indicated above—has indeed paid off. The improved firmness seemed to show up best in the lower installments (which had longer baking times). Perhaps I should make the last installment thinner in the future? Maybe, maybe not (I was concerned about the top surface becoming a little too hard or "crusty").

But the flavor seemed to be right on target with an undeniable banana taste and a reasonable cheese presence as well. The cheesecake was served at Living Hope Church, among a generous selection of other baked sweets, and not much of this prototype was left afterward. A young person there, Michael, gave it a very great review (he often rated my other cheesecakes as well.

I repeated this prototype in March of 2017, but with a new baking approach. It was based somewhat on my fifth strawberry prototype, but with considerably more baking time, as shown below.
 
New 2017 Baking Procedure:
Expect close to 8 1/2 cups of the resulting batter, but do not add this to the pan all at once. Rather, this needs to be done in four installments. Wrap the pan in foil just before adding the first batter installment (to minimize the foil's disturbance and therefore its leakage risk, do not put it on any earlier).

For each of the first three installments, gently scoop about 2 1/2 cups of batter into the pan, fully covering the surface (here's a tip—scoop small amounts of batter around the edge of the pan, letting this batter flow towards the middle on its own), and then bake this pan with its contents for 25 minutes, at 325 degrees. However, at the end of the third installment's 25 minutes, add on another 30 minutes of baking time, but only at 300 degrees (that's a 55 minute "baking installment"—the first 25 minutes at 325 degrees and the next 30 at 300). For these three installments here, bake with the pan in a tub filled with at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch of boiling water, but (to reduce spillage risks) do not fill the tub all the way at this point, because the whole tub-and-pan assembly is going to need to be removed from the oven (in order to comfortably add contents to the pan) between installments.

After these first three installments are done, there should be about 1 cup of batter left, with 105 minutes of baking time reached at this point (25 minutes for each of the first two installments, and 55 for the third one). Now comes the fourth installment—carefully add the last of this batter on top of the pan's earlier installments, fully coating the entire surface. Next, return the entire pan-and-tub assembly to the oven, with the temperature remaining at 300 degrees. At this point, fill up the tub generously with boiling water. Resume baking for another 105 minutes (based upon usage of a 9 1/2" pan).

Afterward, shut the oven off, and leave its door slightly ajar, with the cheesecake still inside—and in the tub—for an hour. Next, remove the cheesecake from the oven and tub. Continue to cool it down at room temperature for another two hours. After doing so, remove the cheesecake from pan and refrigerate.

Banana Cheesecake—Prototype 6 (remake)

The firmness was terrific, even throughout the upper installments! And the top wasn't too brown either. I was very satisfied with the outcome.

This time I made this cheesecake especially for my cousin Rachel and happily presented it to her during my late March visit to her home in Vermont. This latest banana prototype was well received by her family, and it seemed like I got the most enthusiastic compliments from Rachel and her daughter Mya.
 

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