Maple Pecan Cheesecake

Number one, if you have never made a cheesecake and are intimidated by them, DON”T BE! just make sure that you follow these direcions and give yourself the time to make this. It was the first desert i made and i did great!
Believe me, i used to burn Rice a Roni! LOL
These instructions should get you on your way to making a desert that you and your
family and guests will love.
Second i know i am a nag about this but if you use real maple syrup you will get the authentic experience from this. it is fairly expensive but a little goes a long way.
Some of you can’t aquire a taste for it, and that’s pkay too. If you must, you may use the imitation (aka Mrs. Butterworths, Log Cabin..whatever)
Imitation is simply corn syrup and imitation maple flavoring, and the real stuff takes 40 gallons of sap from a maple tree to make 1 gallon of syrup.
Ok i am rambling…..
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (almost 1 pkg crushed whole grahm crackers)
3/4 Stick butter, melted ( 5 1/2 Tablespoons)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon real maple syrup
Mix crumbs and pecans well, Mix syrup with melted butter.Slowly drizzle in to the crumb mixture. Press in bottom of 10 inch springform pan.
Bake at 450 for 5 min. When cool, wrap the bottom of pan in tin foil ( sometimes the pans leak) and place in a lage pan with about 1/2 inch of water.
prevents cracking of your cake.
4-8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
4 eggs
3 Tablespoons flour
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup creme fraiche (or sour cream)
1 whole vanilla bean, opened and knife scrape out the tidbits inside.
Beat cream cheese with mixer. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the creme fraiche ( or sour cream) and vanilla bean. Mix well.
pour into the prepared pan. Slowly drizzle a bit of syrup onto cake if desired..it will sink in and give an extra zip if you have a sweet tooth.
Remove from oven and carefully run a knife or spatula around the inside edge of pan to loosen the cheesecake (helps prevent the surface from cracking as it cools for about an hour))
Remove sides of pan.
Chill, they taste much better after sitting for a day. If feeling adventerous, pressed chopped nuts on sides and drizzle with maple before serving.
I made a whipped cream with heavy cream and just a touch of syrup.