Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

Yes, you heard me. TRUFFLE CHEESECAKE. Anytime those two words are in the same sentence you know that happiness and world peace will soon follow.

I saw this recipe on Allrecipes and just HAD to try it. I'm going to be bringing it to the Tuckers' Christmas party tonight, so some of you can help taste test this recipe and let me know what you really think.

















Now, the original recipe calls for a vanilla wafer crust but I thought I would follow others' suggestions and make a chocolate cookie crust instead.

So, start with about 3 cups of crushed Oreos in a gallon freezer bag and a rolling pin to crush and follow up with some smashing by hand. Then add 3 tablespoons of melted butter directly into the bag (less cleanup) and smash again.

When sufficient smashing has commenced, simply pour contents into springform pan and press down to cover the entire bottom of the pan. I think I should have probably smashed a little more... the crust is still pretty chunky. Oh well.



Now it's time to melt the chocolate - 2 cups (one bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips on a double boiler. A metal (or glass) mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water works great. Melt and mix until smooth.

And now it's time for the star of the show: the cream cheese.

A moment of silence. (Cue angelic choir.)

Cream 3 (8 oz) packages of said dreamy goodness with tender affection, words of love, and biceps of steel (I'm still in the dark ages so it's just me and the spoon).





Now gradually add a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk... it's used in place of sugar, nice huh?






















And now add the melted chocolate... ohhh, yesss... (sorry, blurry picture - the chocolate was wooing me)

And now 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 4 eggs... and BLEND!

Now we pour that chocolately cream cheesy goodness into the pan.











Bake at 300 degrees F for 55 minutes.
When it's done baking for the allotted time, turn off the oven but DO NOT remove the cheesecake from the oven!

Two reasons:
1) it allows the cake to cool gradually in the oven to prevent cracking
2) it will allow the cake to continue to cook a little longer since the middle is still a little underdone.
I let mine sit in the oven for about 2-3 hours, but even 1 hour would be sufficient.

In the meantime, find something interesting to do
like listen to your husband practice his mandolin.

After the cake has cooled, feel free to decorate
with fruit, whipped cream, drizzled white chocolate, or...
Red ribbon, white chocolate leaves (ask me how), and "holly berries" (atomic fire balls)

And that was it! Pretty easy, huh? I thought so - only seven ingredients to make a delightfully creamy, super rich, but not overly sweet chocolate cheesecake.

Click here for the original recipe

Hope you enjoy it, and let me know how yours turns out!

Bakefully yours,
Donna