I don’t know about you, but I absolutely LOVE a good chocolate dessert. So when the HH asked me what I wanted anything special for my birthday a few weeks ago, I told him I wanted him to make a chocolate cheesecake for my big day.
Why a chocolate cheesecake? Well, one… I love chocolate. And two… I knew I’d be able to FREEZE the leftovers. 😉 If I had requested a chocolate cake or something, the sweet treat would have only last a few days…. But with a cheesecake, I knew I’d be able to snitch slices from the freezer for months to come.
And with gardening season only a few weeks away, the thought of being able to walk in the garage after spending a few hours outside and having something delicious waiting for me… well, the idea of a cheesecake for my birthday, it sort of sealed the deal. {Pretty clever, don’t you think?}
So. About this cheesecake. It’s pretty freakin’ AWESOME. You should make it. 🙂 Just be sure and hide a few slices for yourself for later on. You’ll be so glad you did.
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1/4 cup hot, brewed coffee mixed with ¼ cup very hot water
¼ teaspoon salt
14 ounces 70% Dark Chocolate Bars
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Mix cookie crumbs, melted butter and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl until combined. Press mixture onto the bottom of the 9″ springform pan and set aside.
Dissolve salt in hot coffee mixture; set aside.
Coarsely chop 12 ounces of the chocolate bars saving the remaining 2 ounces for garnishing the cheesecake.
Place chopped chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on medium for 1 minute. Stir, and continue to heat in 30-second intervals until the chocolate is almost completely melted {you want a few small chunks remain}. Stir chocolate until smooth, and cool slightly {about 3 – 5 minutes}.
Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese at low speed until creamy {about 2 – 3 minutes}. Gradually add the remaining 1 cup of sugar and beat until well blended {at least 2 minutes}. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and slowly beat in the coffee mixture and vanilla extract. Drizzle in melted chocolate and beat until blended. Pour mixture into the prepared crushed chocolate wafer cookie crust.
Bake the cheesecake for 55 to 65 minutes or until cheesecake is puffed and center is set, but slightly wobbly {do not overcook!}. Cool the cheesecake completely in the spring form pan on a wire rack {about an hour or so}. Then cover the spring form pan with aluminum foil and refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 6 hours or overnight.
This is a very rich cheesecake, and you can easily get 16 servings out of this recipe.
Lauralli says
This looks delicious! I have two questions…..what kind of chocolate wafer cookies did you use? You’re not talking Oreos, right? And, are there 2 cups of sugar? The ingredient list looks like it but the directions don’t. Thanks! I’ll for sure be making this one!
Mavis Butterfield says
Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers…. Yellow box, almost always on the top shop in the cookie aisle.
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
K says
Only 1 Cup sugar + 2 Tablespoons in the recipe.
Add the 2 Tablespoon in the crust mixture.
Add the 1 Cup in tbe cheese filling.
K says
Whoops the … not tbe♀️
KC says
Just a note that:
1. Ghirardelli’s 70% chocolate chips are as good as many 70% chocolate bars (not as good as all, though, I admit) and generally a whole lot cheaper. They’ve got a higher cocoa butter percentage than semi-sweet or any other brand of chips I’ve looked at, which makes them melt/temper easier, and the flavor is both really good and really smooth. That said, they won’t grate up for a garnish.
2. If you want to have fun with presentation: About that grating: chocolate’s temperature massively affects how it grates/shaves/curls. Fridge-temp for brittle crumbs/powder/shavings – and then it’ll produce longer shavings/curls all the way up to almost-melting-temp (do not bring it all the way up to melting temp). When making chocolate curls with a veggie peeler, I’d hold the edge of the chocolate bar against my opposite palm briefly (right hand: chocolate bar wrapped partly in something like double-thick paper towels to insulate it from my hand heat; left hand: clean, press edge of chocolate bar against palm), then would use the veggie peeler on that briefly-softened surface until the curls started cracking up more aggressively again, then repeat. This also works for grating longer shreds; heat edge slightly, grate until you’ve grated that edge off, repeat. For “cigar”-like curls (cinnamon-stick-y?), the trick I learned from a caterer was to have the chocolate at the right temperature (easiest if you’re just *in* the right temperature; heat up or chill the kitchen), immobilize it against the counter, and then scrape a chef’s knife firmly across the chocolate, with the blade edge against the chocolate and the spine of the knife straight up. You need a thicker chocolate bar for that, though – the Trader Joe’s massive ones (pound plus et al) can be useful, or get them through restaurant supply – and then you’ve also got chocolate for brownies and everything else melted for the next year… (but: it is totally okay to not want the Fancy Chocolate Presentation things. They’re just quite fun sometimes. 🙂 )
Kate says
Important fact…frozen chocolate cake is amazing! I’ve never had frozen cheesecake, but I’m sure that’s good too.
Nancy D says
I think I gained 5 pounds just reading that recipe 😉
Julie P says
This looks amazing and I want to pin it for later. Just one query about the sugar. Is there two cups of sugar and two tablespoons or am I reading this wrong and if so does the first cup go in with the crumbs then the second cup go in with the soft cheese?
Julie P says
Yup someone else has made the same query it just popped up on my screen thank you, duh!