Chocolate Cheesecake

Chocolate Cheesecake

I'm not too good at posting about foods I make very often. I guess I feel like it's nothing new here so nobody else needs the recipe. For this recipe, I know that's very wrong. I've been making cheesecake and chocolate cheesecake for years and years. I've used the same recipe without fail and everyone loves it. I've even been asked to make them for special parties and functions and each time it's nothing but rave reviews.

I've had a lot of cheesecake in my life -- it's one of my favorites. There are different textures and flavors and I'm a big fan of dense cheesecake that doesn't have too much lemon added. My own recipe is still the one I'd rather eat more than any other.

Last week I went to Carnegie Deli at Sands Bethlehem and had their cheesecake. It's so similar to my own that I just fell in love. It's dense and rich and the topping (which I don't do here at home) was to-die-for. Once the kids saw the photos of the cheesecake I started getting requests for it and was told that I haven't made it for a while ... I'm guilty of that.

I dutifully obliged and made up a cheesecake last night. It's just as good as I remember and it was gone in no time.

Chocolate Cheesecake
Serves: 12
Hands-On Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 5 hours and 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Crust:
20 chocolate cream cookies (like Oreos) processed into fine crumbs
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter - melted

Filling:
4 blocks cream cheese (2 pounds)  (I use Neufchâtel or 1/3 lower fat)
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate -4 ounces - melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Process cookies until well crumbed. Add melted butter and stir well. Press into 9" springform pan and set aside.
3. Mix together cream cheese and sugar with a hand blender or in a stand blender until smooth. Add vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix until well combined.
4. Add eggs and blend until combined completely.
5. Pour into prepared crust and smooth top.
6. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for at least 4 hours until well chilled. Run a thin knife around edge of cake before removing ring.

Georgia Cheesecake Pie

Georgia Cheesecake Pie

Somewhere about 20 years ago I had a bunch of very ripe peaches that needed to be used up and I wasn't sure what to do with them. Thinking along the lines of peaches and cream that my Grandma Foster served, I found them to be too ripe for that, but perfect to put into the bottom of a cheesecake.

I added a regular pie crust and dubbed it 'Georgia Cheesecake Pie'. We've loved it ever since. This recipe first appeared on my Family Favorites page and I've revamped it since then to use egg whites and more cream cheese. The egg whites make the cheesecake nice and fluffy. Please don't use canned peaches, part of the flavor of this comes from the fresh peaches cooking as the pie bakes and infusing the cheesecake layer with peachy goodness.


Georgia Cheesecake Pie
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

1 9-inch single crust pie crust-unbaked
5 large very-ripe peaches, pitted and sliced thinly - peeling is optional
1 pound cream cheese - softened
1 c granulated sugar
3 egg whites
1 t. vanilla
2 T. flour

Flour bottom of unbaked pie crust with 2T. flour.
Add peaches to crust.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour over peaches.
Bake at 350 degrees F until top is set and partially browned ~ about 35 min.
This is absolutely delicious served warm or cold.

Taffy Apple Cheesecake Pie

Taffy Apple Cheesecake Pie

This was a winning recipe in the Pillsbury 36th Annual Bake-Off of 1994 made by Mary Ann Sasso of Franklin Park, Illinois. I made it way back then and several times since. I don't do it too often because it is rather time-consuming for a pie and there are a lot of ingredients. I wanted to post it anyway with photos so that maybe someone else will see it as not-too-difficult and give it a try.

Melting butter with brown sugar - my kind of multi-tasking.

Adding sliced apples.

Apples cooked until tender and slightly caramelized.

Cream cheese and brown sugar.

Half of the caramel mixture added to the cream cheese mixture.

Half of the caramel mixture added to the apples.

Pecans and chocolate chips. I know the recipe calls for 'finely chopped chocolate chips', but to me that's like trying to stab a Super-ball without holding it down.

Apples in the pie crust.

Topped with chocolate chips and pecans.

Topped with cream cheese mixture before sending off to the oven.

'Decorated'.

Taffy-Apple Cheesecake Pie
Serves 8-10
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 tablespoons butter, or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar, light, firmly packed
4 medium apples, cored, thinly sliced, about 5 cups
21 caramels, unwrapped
1/4 cup cream, half and half
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, light, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg

Crust
Single pie crust


Topping:
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, finely chopped
3/4 cup pecans, finely chopped

Garnish:
8 ounces whipped topping
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice


Directions:

In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar stirring constantly.

Add apples; cook and stir 12 to 15 minutes or until apples are
caramel in color and tender.

Set aside.

Drain if necessary.

In top of double boiler or in medium heavy saucepan over low
heat, melt caramels with half-and-half until mixture is smooth,
stirring frequently.

Keep warm.

In small bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup brown sugar
until light and fluffy.

Add 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and egg; beat
until blended.

Prepare pie crust according to package directions for one-
crust filled pie using 10-inch deep dish pie pan or 9-inch
springform pan (refrigerate remaining crust for a later use).

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Fold half of caramel mixture into cream cheese mixture.

Add apple mixture to remaining caramel mixture; mix well.

Spoon apple caramel mixture into crust-lined pan.

In small bowl, combine topping ingredients; reserve 2
tablespoons mixture.

Sprinkle remaining mixture over apple mixture.

Top with caramel cream cheese mixture, Bake at 375 degrees F for 35 to 45 minutes or until deep golden brown and filling is set.

Cool completely.

Refrigerate 30 minutes or until cold.

Fold 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice into whipped topping.

Pipe or spoon mixture onto pie; sprinkle with reserved 2
tablespoons topping.

Store in refrigerator.

Tip: to prepare caramel filling in microwave, in small microwave
-safe bowl, combine caramels and half-and-half.

Microwave on HIGH for 1 1/2 to 2 minute stirring once halfway
through cooking.

Stir until smooth.

April Daring Bakers' Challenge: Cheesecake Pops

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge, hosted by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell, was these loverly little Cheesecake Pops from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor.



The cheesecake itself was absolutely delicious, but the pops were difficult for me to make. I just couldn't keep the cake from sticking to the melon baller no matter what I tried. So, I went with the few that I was able to scoop and dipped and decorated. I think they're cute and I really liked the smaller one. The larger ones were too hard to handle and the little guys were the perfect "bite size". Check out either of the blogs above for the recipe!

Almost Meatless Dinner

Dinner last night for us could very well be dinner tonight for anyone who observes Lent and meatless Fridays. Let me say beforehand, it was good.

Fettuccine Alfredo
Layered Salad
Steamed Broccoli
Garlic and Herb French Bread
Assorted Olives
Cheesecake

I'm not posting exact recipes here since most of it is so easy to do. I make my Alfredo in the minimalist way; fettuccine tossed with whole butter and grated Parmesan. The fettuccine was already garlic flavored, so I left that out this time.

The layered salad was packed out with veggies; Romaine lettuce, shredded carrot, broccoli florets, red and yellow peppers, celery, halved grape tomatoes, shredded cheddar and turkey bacon topped with Ranch dressing.

The steamed broccoli stands alone quite well as do the assorted olives. The bread was my own laced with garlic and basil and the cheesecake was a standard quick version in a graham crust.

Leave out the bacon and you're set for a meatless meal!