FILLING:

2 boxes Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner (original flavor)
2 (8 oz. ea.) pkgs. Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temp. (I prefer the "spread" variety that comes in plastic cartons; just make sure it's not whipped)
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temp.
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk, any sort (skim, whole, etc.)
water

CRUST:

1 sleeve (9 crackers) graham crackers (boxes typically contain 3 packs of 9 crackers each; should come to about 1 1/4 cups when crushed)
4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup almonds

SPECIAL SUPPLIES:

9-inch springform pan
oven bag
colander for straining macaroni
Baking pan big enough to hold the springform and 1-2 inches of water
Coffee grinder or food processor for grinding the almonds

Prep. time: 30m; Cook time: ~2 hours (see below for details); Ready after cooling in the refrigerator overnight.

1. Place a 9-inch springform pan inside an oven bag. Fold back the oven bag until it just covers the edge of the springform pan. Place the springform pan inside a baking pan. In step (7) we'll fill this pan with about 1-inch of hot water before putting it in the oven. This helps prevent cracking by keeping the edges of the cake at a constant 212°F (the boiling point of water) and cooking them slower than the center of the cake.

2. Prepare the crust: a) Crush the graham crackers: place the pack (while still in the wrapper) inside a Ziploc bag and then proceed to pound on it using a soup can or some more primitive tool. b) Grind up 1/2 cup almonds in a coffee grinder or food processor, but stop before they've turned completely to powder. c) Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the microwave (approximately 1 minute on high). d) Mix the graham cracker crumbs, almonds, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and melted butter together in a bowl. e) Lightly grease the bottom and inside edges of a 9-inch springform pan. f) Firmly and uniformly press the crust mixture into the bottom and approximately 1/2-inch up the sides of the springform pan.

3. Prepare the filling (all filling ingredients should be at room temperature to help prevent cracking, so says the internet): a) Combine 16 oz cream cheese with 1 1/2 cup sugar. Whisk until smooth. If using a carton of Philadelphia "cream cheese spread" (not whipped) this shouldn't take much stirring by hand at all. The internet recommends doing all the stirring by hand (with a whisk or spoon) to prevent air from being trapped in the batter. This shouldn't be difficult at all in this recipe -- if your arm is aching, you've stirred too much. b) Fold in 3 eggs, one at a time. Stir the batter very gently from this point forward. c) Stir in 2 tablespoons of flour.

4. Make the macaroni and cheese (as you would normally, but with double the flavor and minus the butter): a) Open 2 boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese and extract the cheese packets from both. Open both packets and set them aside. b) Boil water. c) Add the macaroni from 1 box to the boiling water. d) Turn the heat down a bit and boil until the macaroni is reasonably soft (8-10 minutes according to the box). e) Turn off stove and strain out the macaroni. Don't rinse the macaroni, but let it sit in the colander for a minute or so to dry off a bit. f) Dump the macaroni into a bowl. g) With a spoon, stir both flavor packets into the macaroni. h) Add just enough milk while stirring (approximately 1/4 cup, any sort -- skim, whole, etc.) so that the flavor powder has completely dissolved and evenly coated the macaroni. i) Keep stirring the macaroni for another minute or so until it has cooled down enough that you could eat it comfortably without burning your mouth.

Note: at this point you should have an extra box of macaroni and cheese standing by that contains only the dry noodles and no flavor packet.

5. Add the cooked macaroni & cheese to the cheesecake batter. Stir the concoction very lightly until the macaroni noodles are evenly distributed throughout. Try not to let the whole batter turn orange -- most of the color should stay attached to the noodles.

6. Spoon the mixture over the crust into the springform pan. Let the mixture sit on the counter for 10-20 minutes to hopefully give those air bubbles a chance to come to the surface. Also, it might help smooth the top out if you gently shake it back and forth.

7. Add about 1-inch of hot water to the baking pan (mentioned in step 1). Place the whole thing in the preheated 300°F oven on the middle rack.

8. Bake at 300°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn off the oven but leave the door closed for another 45 minutes. At this point, the top of the cake should be very slightly browned around the edges (barely visible) with no cracks. After the cake has sat in the oven with the door closed, open the door and let the cake continue to cool for another few hours before putting it in the refrigerator overnight.

9. I recommend making use of the extra box of cheeseless macaroni for a topping. I don't have any good ideas, though, so I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader. Perhaps a raspberry sauce mixed with the cooked macaroni.

Submitted by: Chris Hathhorn