Aug 5, 2010

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake


I made this decadent chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for my coworker for her birthday. She's a big peanut butter fan and I searched for peanut butter recipes and came across this.This was actually a variation of a previous Daring Baker challenge. I remember this being a very good cheesecake recipe, so I decided on this recipe.

I made a few changes to the recipe. First of all, I halved the recipe. I also omitted some steps, just out of pure laziness and exhaustion. I also made a different crust just because I wanted to use up some chocolate wafers I had.

The result is a very rich chocolate peanut butter cheesecake!! I loved the combination of the chocolate ganache, cheesecake and the crust! yummy!! Here are the recipes.


Chocolate wafer crust
from All recipes

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted


1. Mix crumbs and melted butter or margarine until well blended. Press into a 7 inch springform pan. Chill until firm.


Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
adapted from Dinner and Dessert

1 1/2 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 12 oz) room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 extra large egg
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Combine cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter, and melted chocolate in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add egg and mix until it's fully incorporated. Add heavy cream and vanilla and blend until smooth and creamy.

3. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath.

5. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill.


Chocolate Ganache
adapted from Dinner and Dessert

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature


1. Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

2. Bring the cream to a boil, then pour half the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Working with a whisk or rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in increasingly larger concentric circles. Pour in the remainder of the cream and blend it into the chocolate, using the same circular motions. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, stir in the butter piece by piece. Don’t stir the ganache any more than you must to blend the ingredients- the less you work it, the darker, smoother, and shinier it will be.

3. Pour ganache over chilled cheesecake, and refrigerate until set.

Notes:
  • *The original recipe for the Chocolate Peanut butter cheesecake uses a peanut butter cookie crust. It also has peanut patties in it, and it's topped with reese's peanut butter cups! All sound like wonderful inclusions, I was just too lazy! =) Check out Erin's original recipe here!

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