Peanut Butter Cheesecake with a Brownie Crust

It's been months since I posted any chocolate and peanut butter treats, that's just not right!  So here's another.  I don't need to convince you how great the flavor combination is.  I made this as one of several desserts for a party for my Abstract Algebra students.  I never have students over without serving cheesecake, it's so easy and quick, it serves a lot, most people really like it, and there are endless flavor combinations!  And it can be made ahead of time, perfect for parties!  You could definitely serve this on an oreo crust if you prefer, but I really like the brownie texture.

 

Baking Class: Cheesecakes

 Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

Baking Class has been over for awhile now, but I still have lots of goodies to post from it.  During the last week of class, we made cheesecakes.  This is a recipe adapted from the Daring Bakers; the students made a lot of different varieties.  It's a very adaptable recipe - so have fun and design your own flavor combination!

 Anna & Jen

Graham Cracker Crust

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.

Sean, Andrew, & JC

Oreo Crust

1 ½ cups oreo cookie crumbs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.

Batter Mixing

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Batter - Before Baking

Cheesecake

24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tbsp liqueur, optional

Be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature, especially the eggs and cream cheese. This will help keep cracks from forming in the top of the cheesecake.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put a kettle of water on to boil for the waterbath. Wrap springform pan in 3-4 layers of aluminum foil to prevent (or lessen at least!) leakage.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 1 minute) and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Beating at low speed, add the heavy cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir in the liqueur, if using. The batter will be thin.

(Note: If you're using a hand mixer, you will want to increase the mixing times).

Bake the cheesecake for about 80-90 minutes in a water bath; it should hold together, but there will still be a lot of jiggle in the center. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake from the water bath, and let it finish cooling on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight, and bring to room temperature before serving.

Lemon Cheesecake

Flavor Variations

Lemon:  Replace liqueur with fresh lemon juice, and stir in 2 teaspoons lemon zest.

Coffee:  Dissolve 2/3 tablespoon espresso powder into 1 tablespoon very hot water, and cover until using.  Add to batter at the same time as the vanilla extract.  Omit the lemon juice, and use Kahlua for the liqueur.

Chocolate Swirl:  In a separate bowl, stir together about one-third of the batter and 3 ounces melted semisweet chocolate. Pour the plain batter on top of the cooled crumb crust. Drop the chocolate batter mixture on top of the other batter in spoonfuls. With a knife, gently swirl the chocolate batter through the plain batter.

Coffee with Nutella Swirl : See my previous post.

Pumpkin:  See my previous post.

Coffee Cheesecake with Chocolate Swirl

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chocolate Swirl and Crust

I know, I know, what's with all the pumpkin recipes?  I don't know, I'm on a pumpkin kick apparently.  I didn't realize I was even that big a fan of pumpkin!  But this dessert will be great for any holiday parties in your future. It's delicious and elegant, and cheesecakes always impress people for some reason.

I always thought cheesecakes were hard to make - before I made one, that is.  Turns out, they're not!  Well, yeah, there's the whole cracking issue, but there are things you can do to avoid cracks, and the cheesecake still tastes great with the crack.  And other than that, a cheesecake is usually a lot quicker to make than, say, a layer cake or a complicated pastry.  The other great thing is that cheesecake is so rich, one cheesecake feeds a crowd.  And you can make them 1-2 days ahead of time.  I almost always include cheesecake at all my dessert parties.  And there are so many options for flavors, crusts, and toppings, it's a great opportunity to be creative!

In January, I'm teaching a baking course for winter study.  They're letting me use the college bakeshop!  I'm totally excited, but I've never baked with commercial equipment before, so I'll be doing a lot of practicing with all the equipment in the next month.  Did you know there was such a thing as a walk in oven??  Scary.  I baked this cheesecake in one of the convection ovens there, which I'd never used before, and I didn't lower the temperature enough to compensate, so there's a crack in this one.  I had planned on piping some chocolate ganache rosettes around the edge to hide it, but I ran out of time.  Hey, the chocolate swirl hides it a little anyway! 

Coffee Cheesecake with Nutella Swirl on a Brownie Base

I frequently bake for my students. I may be fooling myself, but a yummy brownie or delicious cupcake seems to lessen the blow of getting one's less than stellar calculus exam back. I also need to give away my baked goods to my students, or my friends will soon start blaming me for sugar overload; the students never complain. Students are also excellent guinea pigs for testing out new recipes. But during semesters when I have a lot of students, I need recipes that can feed a crowd. Cheesecake is perfect - it's fancier than a brownie, easy to make, and serves a lot, especially when I use my 9 x 9 springform pan.





The recipe for this cheesecake is very similar to that of the April Daring Bakers challenge, which is itself very close to Dorie Greenspan's recipe. I added coffee extract, espresso powder, and Kahlua. I also mixed some of the batter with some warmed nutella, and added a nutella swirl. The nutella-batter was too heavy for the cheesecake batter; I got only a slight hint of a swirl on top of the cheesecake, and more of a nutella-cheesecake layer right on top of the brownie layer. It wasn't quite the look I was going for, but it's probably one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had. I especially loved the brownie base. No matter how many layers of aluminum foil I use when I make cheesecake, the water bath always seems to leak into the springform pan. Here, though, the slight leak just seemed to make the brownie base just that much fudgier. Yum.

This recipe makes a lot of cheesecake. I used a 9 x 9 springform pan and had some batter left over for two round 4" cheesecakes. If you're using an oreo-cookie or graham cracker crust, you probably won't have any batter left over after filling the 9 x 9 pan. Use two-thirds of the cheesecake batter recipe (3 eggs) for a 9" round springform pan with brownie crust (or even for a slightly shorter cheesecake in a 10" round pan).

Recipe:

For the Brownie Base (adapted from King Arthur Flour):

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter 3/4 cup (2 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
4 large eggs
2 cups (14 ounces) sugar
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or spray with baking spray) a 9 x 9 square springform pan.

Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder. Cover, and set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs for 3 minutes, then gradually add the sugar, beating 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in the butter/chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the flour and salt, just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.


For the Cheesecake:

1 Tablespoon espresso powder
1.5 Tablespoons hot water
36 ounces cream cheese (preferably Philadelphia cream cheese)
1.5 cups sugar
5 eggs
1.5 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons coffee extract
1 Tablespoon Kahlua
1/4 cup Nutella, warmed

Be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature, especially the eggs and cream cheese. This will help keep cracks from forming in the top of the cheesecake.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (if you're doing the cheesecake the next day; otherwise just leave the oven on). Put a kettle of water on to boil for the waterbath. Wrap springform pan in 3-4 layers of aluminum foil to prevent (or lessen at least!) leakage.

Dissolve the espresso powder in the hot water; cover.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 1 minute) and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Beating at low speed, add the heavy cream, extracts, and espresso powder mixture. Stir in the Kahlua. The batter will be thin.

(Note: If you're using a hand mixer, you will want to increase the mixing times).


In a separate bowl, stir together about 2 cups of the batter and the nutella. Pour the remaining batter on top of the cooled brownie base. You'll want to leave a little room (half-inch or so) at the very top of the pan, but it should be nearly full (depending on your pan size and your base, you may have extra batter which can be cooked in small cake pans or muffin tins). Drop the nutella/batter mixture on top of the coffee batter in spoonfuls over the top of the cheesecake. Much of this will sink through the coffee batter. With a knife, gently swirl the nutella batter through the coffee batter.

Bake the cheesecake for about 60-75 minutes: it should hold together, but there will still be a lot of jiggle in the center. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake from the water bath, and let it finish cooling on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight, and bring to room temperature before serving.