Bunny Banana Cheesecake

"I made this adorable cheesecake last Easter for my family.  It was a 'hoppy' ending to our holiday meal!"

Crust  

1-3/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1 stick or 1/2 cup of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter.  Set aside 1/2 cup of mixture to sprinkle on top of cheesecake.  Press remaining mixture in bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before filling.

Cheesecake Layer

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 (8 ounce) container of non-dairy whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed and divided 

3-4 bananas, sliced

1-3/4 cup milk

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant banana cream or vanilla pudding mix

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Fold in 2 cups of Cool Whip.  Place half of the banana slices on the bottom of the cooled crust and top with half of the cream cheese mixture. Arrange remaining banana slices on top and cover with remaining cream cheese mixture.  Whisk together milk and pudding mix.  Allow to sit for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Fold in remaining Cool Whip.  Pour over cream cheese layer and spread evenly.  Sprinkle top of cheesecake with reserved 1/2 cup of crust mixture.  Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

TIP:  Of course you can eat the cheesecake without decorating it and it will be DELICIOUS!  The following directions will show you how I decorated the cheesecake for Easter, but you could decorate it for any holiday, including Birthdays.

Easter Decorations:   

I used the following ingredients to decorate my cheesecake, but feel free to use any Easter candy to decorate yours. 

Easter Marshmallow bunnies (Peeps)

malted milk eggs

Pastel sprinkles

To decorate the cheesecake, I stood 4 marshmallow bunnies in a circle in the center of the cheesecake, pushing down slightly to help them stand.  I then scattered the malted milk eggs around the bunnies and placed the pastel sprinkles around he edge of the cheesecake.   

Visit my MooseCreek CheeseCakes page to see more cheesecake recipes.

http://kandyskitchenkreations.blogspot.com/p/moosecreek-cheesecakes.html