1st Cheesecake - Crust

I told you in an earlier post this week that one of my V-Day gifts was a spring form pan to make homemade cheesecakes.  Well, my bloggy friends, today was the day my first homemade cheesecake went in the oven.  It's about half way through baking at this point, but I wanted to give you a little tutorial for the crust.

If you know me, you know I love a challenge.  So, I could have picked a regular, plain jane cheesecake to be my first, but where would the challenge be in that.  And, with our love for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I chose a recipe that included them.

Here is the crust recipe...

    1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
    1/4 cup sugar
    1/4 cup crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
    6 tablespoons butter, melted
    3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 

In a large bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, sugar, cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a greased 9-in. spring form pan. Place on a baking sheet.

Bake at 350° for 7-9 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat peanut butter on high for 30 seconds or until softened. Spread over crust to within 1 in. of edges.

After the cheesecake is out of the oven and cooled, I'll post the filling and topping recipe and show you the final results.  BTW, it's smelling amazing!!!