Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake -- the recipe
I am going to a friend's potluck Thanksgiving dinner today, and she specifically requested that I make a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake.
I used the recipe from here: mikes-table.themulligans.org/2009/07/04/chocolate-peanut-butter-cheesecake/ I love the Mike's Table blog, but he doesn't seem to update it very often (last entry was August 2010).
I made a couple of modifications to his recipe. First, I used an Oreo cookie crust. Well actually, I bought gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies, as I knew at least one of my GF friends would be at today's dinner. Also, I added about a 1/4 cup extra of peanut butter to the peanut butter layer, put the layers in a different order, and omitted the chocolate ganache. I think it would have been overkill. I put the peanut butter layer on the bottom because I thought it would be best in contrast to the chocolate cookie crust. Here is the recipe with my modifications.
For the crust:
1/4 cup melted butter
13 chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos or any other brand)
For the filling:
24 ounces cream cheese - room temperature
1 cup white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 ounces (by weight) bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter (the all natural kind, that is just peanuts & salt)
1 tablespoon honey
Blend the cookies & melted butter in a food processor until cookies are broken down into fine crumbs and the mixture is well blended. Press the cookie/butter mixture into a springform pan (I used a 9-inch diameter pan)
Using an electric hand mixer or standing mixer, blend the cream cheese and sugar until lighter in texture. Blend in the eggs, then the cream, lemon & vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and blend thoroughly. Mixture should be smooth and thick.
Separate the mixture into three even portions. (I did this by weight using a kitchen scale. I transferred all of the batter to one bowl and weighed it, taking into account the weight of the bowl. I then transferred one third to a second bowl, and put one third back into the mixing bowl.) Add peanut butter and honey to the batter in the mixing bowl, blend well, pour/spread it onto your chocolate cookie crust, making sure it's spread evenly and all the way to the edges. You can now spread the vanilla portion of the batter on top. Put the last batch of the batter into your mixing bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, stir, heat for another 30 seconds if needed.) Allow chocolate to cool for a minute or so. Add to the mixing bowl, blend well. Spread on top of the vanilla layer. (I found that my chocolate layer was thicker in consistency than my vanilla layer, so I had to be careful not to disturb the vanilla layer too much while spreading the chocolate part out.)
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 - 50 minutes. There will still be some jiggle to the middle when it's done. Turn off the oven & allow the cheesecake to stay in there for an hour as the oven cools. This helps prevent cracking. Since I was using a springform pan, I didn't place it IN a water bath, as I was worried that the pan would allow water in. Instead, I placed a large pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven. This seemed to work nicely. Once I removed the cheesecake from the ovn, I ran a thin knife around the edge to separate the cheesecake from the sides of the pan. This is also supposed to help prevent cracking. I was worried that the cheesecake wasn't cooked enough, but after reading up on cheesecake tips online, I decided to trust that the refrigeration would firm it up. I was right. You really want to refrigerate this overnight before serving. It needs to be chilled all the way through.
The flavors and textures of this cheesecake are amazing. The top and bottom layers are denser than the middle. The middle layer is smooth and creamy, making it the perfect contrast. I will definitely be making this again!
I used the recipe from here: mikes-table.themulligans.org/2009/07/04/chocolate-peanut-butter-cheesecake/ I love the Mike's Table blog, but he doesn't seem to update it very often (last entry was August 2010).
I made a couple of modifications to his recipe. First, I used an Oreo cookie crust. Well actually, I bought gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies, as I knew at least one of my GF friends would be at today's dinner. Also, I added about a 1/4 cup extra of peanut butter to the peanut butter layer, put the layers in a different order, and omitted the chocolate ganache. I think it would have been overkill. I put the peanut butter layer on the bottom because I thought it would be best in contrast to the chocolate cookie crust. Here is the recipe with my modifications.
For the crust:
1/4 cup melted butter
13 chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos or any other brand)
For the filling:
24 ounces cream cheese - room temperature
1 cup white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 ounces (by weight) bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter (the all natural kind, that is just peanuts & salt)
1 tablespoon honey
Blend the cookies & melted butter in a food processor until cookies are broken down into fine crumbs and the mixture is well blended. Press the cookie/butter mixture into a springform pan (I used a 9-inch diameter pan)
Using an electric hand mixer or standing mixer, blend the cream cheese and sugar until lighter in texture. Blend in the eggs, then the cream, lemon & vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and blend thoroughly. Mixture should be smooth and thick.
Separate the mixture into three even portions. (I did this by weight using a kitchen scale. I transferred all of the batter to one bowl and weighed it, taking into account the weight of the bowl. I then transferred one third to a second bowl, and put one third back into the mixing bowl.) Add peanut butter and honey to the batter in the mixing bowl, blend well, pour/spread it onto your chocolate cookie crust, making sure it's spread evenly and all the way to the edges. You can now spread the vanilla portion of the batter on top. Put the last batch of the batter into your mixing bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, stir, heat for another 30 seconds if needed.) Allow chocolate to cool for a minute or so. Add to the mixing bowl, blend well. Spread on top of the vanilla layer. (I found that my chocolate layer was thicker in consistency than my vanilla layer, so I had to be careful not to disturb the vanilla layer too much while spreading the chocolate part out.)
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 - 50 minutes. There will still be some jiggle to the middle when it's done. Turn off the oven & allow the cheesecake to stay in there for an hour as the oven cools. This helps prevent cracking. Since I was using a springform pan, I didn't place it IN a water bath, as I was worried that the pan would allow water in. Instead, I placed a large pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven. This seemed to work nicely. Once I removed the cheesecake from the ovn, I ran a thin knife around the edge to separate the cheesecake from the sides of the pan. This is also supposed to help prevent cracking. I was worried that the cheesecake wasn't cooked enough, but after reading up on cheesecake tips online, I decided to trust that the refrigeration would firm it up. I was right. You really want to refrigerate this overnight before serving. It needs to be chilled all the way through.
The flavors and textures of this cheesecake are amazing. The top and bottom layers are denser than the middle. The middle layer is smooth and creamy, making it the perfect contrast. I will definitely be making this again!