I have been on a total cheesecake kick lately probably due to the chirping birds and flower buds screaming spring. Ever Easter my grandmother makes two of the most amazing cheesecakes ever!
Roaming through the 99cent Only Store this week I came across a nifty bag of Nutter Butter pieces and my brain went crazy with ideas! I immediately thought it would make an awesome crust, and indeed it did. Nothing goes better with peanut butter than chocolate, so without question the filling was going to be chocolate. I came across Kraft's new chocolate cream cheese spread at the grocery store and decided I would experiment with it too.
Not pictured: sugar, flour, butter, cocoa powder
Overall, the cheesecake was delicious. The chocolate cream cheese added a creamy texture and the nutter butter pieces added a crunch in the crust. I finished the cheesecake of with a luscious chocolate ganache and swirled in some melted peanut butter.
- 16 ounces nutter butter pieces or 1 package nutter butters
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted (if using nutter butters with filling, use 1 stick of butter
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 (8-ounce) packages chocolate cream cheese, softened (if you cannot find the chocolate cream cheese scroll down for adjustments)
- ¾ cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 12 ounces chocolate chips
- 6 tablespoons butter
- ¼ c heavy cream
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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Spray a 9in round spring form pan with nonstick spray.
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Finely pulse cookies in a food processor, add sugar, salt and melted butter and mix well. Press crumb mix into pan on the bottom and on sides.
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Put in freezer while you make the filling.
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Prepare the filling: beat the cream cheese on high for 2 minutes.
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Add sugar, cocoa, powder and flour and beat on medium for another 2 minutes.
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Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition to avoid unmixed strips of cream cheese.
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Pour filling into pan. Cover bottom and sides of cheesecake pan with foil (to prevent water from seeping in) and set in larger roasting pan.
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Pour boiling water in roasting pan so that it reaches approx. halfway up cheesecake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
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When cheesecake is done, turn off oven and leave the cheesecake for another 2 hours. Then remove and allow to throughly cool.
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* If you are not using the chocolate cream cheese spread, substitute 4 packages regular cream cheese and ½ of melted chocolate.
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On low heat, add all ingredients and mix until melted and smooth.
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Pour over cheesecake and lick the spoon. Melt 2 tablespoons of peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds.
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Spoon dollops onto ganache and swirl with a knife.
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Refrigerate overnight, and then enjoy with a large glass of milk!
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This cheesecake is very large, and tall. It will serve at least 12 people.
Big Hungry Gnomes
This cheesecake sounds fantastic. As does your 99cent store, after all, it's supplied the ingredients for your lemon curd and a glorious cheesecake. I was wondering what nutter butters are? I've never seen them in the UK so I might need to find an alternative? If I can find some, I'd love to try this out sometime
The Seaside Baker
The 99cent store only rocks!! Nutter Butter are a crispy peanut butter cookie usually filled with peanut butter, but the pieces I purchased were just the crispy pb. You could also use chocolate wafers, or make peanut butter cookies and then grind them up to make the crust. I am hopefully going to be making a peanut butter and nutella cookie this week and I will add gram conversions!
Shauna
This looks amazing! You are truly inspirational. Thank you for all you great ideas and helping me get started as well. In recognition of your hard work, I would like to honor you with giving you a Liebster Award. You rock!