Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Cookie Dough + Cheesecake.


Seriously, I don't even know what else to say.


So lets just say that this dessert is AMAZING, and if you want an incredible treat to share, this would be the way to go! It takes a little time and effort, but it is well worth the wait!! Just trust me on this one.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Crust:
4 TBSP Butter, melted
2 1/2 Cups Chocolate Cookie Crumbs 

Filling:
4 {8-ounce} Blocks Cream Cheese, @ room temperature
1 Cup sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp. Flour
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 Cup Sour Cream 

Cookie Dough:
½ Cup Butter, softened
½ Cup Sugar
½ Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
2 TBSP Milk
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 Cup Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips

An additional 1 cup mini chocolate chips to fold into the batter with the cookie dough balls

Garnish:

1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks {add powdered sugar to sweeten} 

Mini chocolate chips, for sprinkling

For the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugars for the cookie dough. Add the  milk, vanilla and blend. Mix in the flour, salt and the chocolate chips. The dough will be fairly soft. Gently roll the dough into small balls and put them on a lined plate or baking sheet. Put them in the freezer to harden while making the rest of the cheesecake.

For the crust: Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan with softened butter. In a medium bowl, combine the butter with the chocolate cookie crumbs. Press onto the bottom and about halfway up the sides of the prepared pan.

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For the cheesecake: Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flour until smooth. Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix just until blended. Don't over mix!

Pour half the batter into the prepared crust. Gently stir in the cookie dough balls and the additional 1 cup mini chocolate chips into the remaining batter. Pour into the pan, spreading the batter to the sides of the pan and evening it out across the top. Bake the cheesecake at 325 degrees for one hour. Turn off the oven and prop the door open several inches. Let the cake sit in the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate until chilled (ideally, overnight). To serve, cut into slices and top with whipped cream and mini chocolate chips. Will make 12 generous servings!

**I baked mine the same way I bake our PB cheesecake... in a water bath. the water bath will help prevent cracking on the top of the cheesecake, and since I was actually selling slices of this cheesecake at a service auction, I wanted it to look perfect.

recipe source: melskitchencafe.com

Check out our other great recipes!

Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie

I made this for our YW Cinco De Mayo party on Tuesday night. It was kind of an experiment, but everyone was very pleased with the result! I will be making this one again. I know I say that a lot of the recipes I post are easy {I swear they are}, but this one is probably one of the easiest. Its a great one to take to a potluck function or serve as dessert. You could also try vanilla or cinnamon ice cream with it, but I think its great by its self. You could also easily half this recipe if you want to try it out and aren't going to a function. You may eat the whole thing by yourself so I'd probably suggest the halving method. ;)

Sorry the pics aren't great... I was in a hurry!

Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie

2 [8oz.] packages Cream Cheese, softened

1 Cup White Sugar

1 tsp. Mexican Vanilla

2 [8oz.] Packages Refrigerated Crescent Rolls

3/4 Cup White Sugar

1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Cup Butter, @ room temperature

1/4 Cup Honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.

2. Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla until smooth.

3. Unroll the first can of crescent dough and lay it flat in prepared dish. Pinch all the seems together to make one big rectangle. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough, then cover with the 2nd package of crescent rolls, pinching the seems together to make another large rectangle.

4. Mix together 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon and butter with a pastry blender. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake.

5. Bake until crescent dough has puffed ad turned golden brown, about 30-40 minutes. Removefrom oven and drizzle with 1/4 cup honey. Cool completely in pan before cutting up andserving. Will make 12 LARGE square or anywhere from 16-20 smaller squares.

**Note: there was one piece left the morning after I made it and when I got up I saw that the pan was in the sink. I texted Greg and told him he stole my pie and he said he had to take it because it was calling to him. I think that says something about this treat coming for a guy who tries to avoid eating desserts! :)

Cheesecake

This is the traditional cheesecake from our childhood. It always reminds me of Stephen.

We love this recipe because its not only easy, but tasty. No eggs or baking time required. Doesn't get much better than that!

Cheesecake

1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese, softened

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/3 Cup Lemon Juice

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 Prepared Graham Pie Crust (you can make you own, but this is the easy way out!)

Beat softened cream cheese in mixer until light and smooth. Slowly add in sweetened condensed milk and continue to beat. Add lemon juice and vanilla and thoroughly combine. Pour into graham crust and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving. Top with fresh berries or pie filling of choice. Voila!

Brownie Bottom Peanut Butter Cheesecake

This recipe is actually Emily's, but I made it last week when we had friends over & thought I would post it... Especially since I took pictures! :) It makes a rather large Cheesecake, so unless you plan on gaining 20 pounds yourself, be prepared to share this decadent wonder. Tell people its Sugar Free.


Brownie Bottom Peanut Butter Cheesecake
Brownie Crust:
1 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Peanut Butter Chips
6 TBSP. Butter, melted
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
1 TBSP Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 Cup plus 2 TBSP. all-purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
Cheesecake Filling:
2 Lbs. Cream Cheese, softened (thats 4 8 oz. packages)
5 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups firmly packed Brown Sugar
1 Cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Whipping Cream
1 TBSP Vanilla
6 Peanut Butter Cups, cut into quarters

Decoration:
6 Peanut Butter Cups, carefully cut in half
1/2 Cup Whipping Cream
1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Peanut Butter Chips

Brownie Crust---

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 inch spring form pan with butter.

Stir together peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl with a wire whisk. Add eggs; stir until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; blend well. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until brownie begins to pull away from the side of the pan. Meanwhile make cheesecake layer.

Immediately after removing brownie from oven, sprinkle milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and peanut butter cups over brownie surface. Spoon cheesecake mixture over the chips. Turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Cheesecake Filling---

Beat cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add sugar, peanut butter, and cream; mix until smooth.

Stir in vanilla.

Pour filling into crust (you will have excess batter. Don't fill pan too high!).

Double wrap spring form pan with foil to prevent water seeping in. Place springform pan into a larger baking pan and pour hot water into the pan so the water comes up the sides 1 inch.

Bake @ 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, or until firm and lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on wire rack for @ least an hour.

Run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen it somewhat. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

For the topping---
Bring whipping cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Drizzle on the cake and then add the peanut butter cup halves around the edges. They make large pieces! try and eat a whole slice without getting sick! ;)

Apple Pie Cheesecake

The past few weeks I have been experimenting with new pie recipes in anticipation of Thanksgiving. We usually have one piece and then I send the rest with Greg to school. I made this recipe the other night and when I tried it the next morning I knew I had found my winner & that none would be going to Medical School! Try it out and let me know what you think... We thought it was pretty good; not too sweet, but different and delicious! I will post the original recipe and then tell you the few things I changed.

The best part was that my mother-in-law said she wanted an apple pie and a pecan pie... so this is what I came up with! :)

APPLE PIE CHEESECAKE

1 Cup crushed Ginger Snaps

3 TBSP. Butter, melted

1/2 Cup plus 2 TBSP. Sugar, divided

2 pkg. [8 oz. size] Cream Cheese, softened

2 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 Cup Sour Cream

2 Eggs

1 Cup Apple Pie Filling, divided

1/2 Cup Walnuts Pieces, divided

1/2 Cup Toffee Bits, divided

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix together ginger snap crumbs, melted butter, & 2 TBSP. sugar. Press in bottom and sides of 9 inch pie plate.

Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 @ a time, beating after each just until blended. Stir in half of each of the pie filling, nuts and toffee bits. Pour into crust.

Bake 35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with remaining pie filling, nuts, and toffee.

Eat it up... Yum!

**Ok, so I did have to change a few things. My father-in-law is deathly allergic to walnuts so I substituted chopped pecans, which I like more anyway. I also could not find plain toffee bits at the store so I actually just bought a bag of the heath bar bits. I wanted to avoid a pie with chocolate for my Hubby's sake, but it turned out great and Greg still ate a piece. The Heath bits have barely any chocolate on them anyway... right?

I also found I had to cook it longer than 35 minutes. I placed mine on a cookie sheet because the pie tin seemed a bit full to me and I was worried about it spilling over. It ended up being in my oven about 50 minutes. (NOTE: I have a Gas oven.... 35 min. might be fine in an Electric oven!??)

Ginger Snaps are a pretty hard cookie, so if you have a food processor that will be your best bet for blending to smitherines. Otherwise, a blender might work as well. After eating this pie though, I'm not convinced it has to be a Ginger Snap crust... I honestly think a store bought Graham Crust would work as well.

There you have it! Any Questions? If not... go get bakin'!

P.S. Check out the cute place setting name cards I made for the Thanksgiving table!!?