Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Calling all chocoholics!  Calling all cheesecake lovers!  (Cheesecakeoholics just didn't have the ring I was looking for.)  It's true, all chocoholics and cheesecake lovers can live in harmony.  =)  In all seriousness, this was a great cheesecake.  Even my husband, who is not a cheesecake lover , enjoyed this.  (Yes...those people exist.  I somehow married one.)  I got the recipe from VeryBestBaking.com.  It called for an Oreo cookie crust.  I didn't have any Oreos (I know...shame on me.) but I did have graham crackers and made a graham cracker crust instead.  I also used regular sized chocolate chips vs. the mini ones.  It's what I had.  I bet the mini ones would make it prettier.  Anyway, if you need a pretty dessert to impress the in-laws...here you go!

Graham Cracker Crust:
Recipe taken from Food.com

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together and press evenly across bottom of a inch springform pan.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake:

Recipe taken from VeryBestBaking.com

• 2- 8oz packages of softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 TBS vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 TBS AP-flour
• 3/4 evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 cups chocolate chips, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300
2. After the crust has cooled, sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips evenly across the crust.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until smooth. 
4. Beat in eggs and flour. 
5. Gradually beat in evaporated milk and sour cream. 
6. Pour over crust. 
7. Sprinkle with remaining morsels.
8. Bake for 25 minutes
9. Cover loosely with foil
10. Bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes or until edge is set but center still moves slightly. Place in refrigerator immediately; refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Remove side of springform pan.

My Tips for this Recipe:

• Even though the recipe doesn't tell you to do so, I put a pan of water on the bottom rack and the cheesecake on the top rack of my oven.  It helps keep it from getting too dry and cracking.
• I know it's tough to keep from cutting into the cheesecake while it's nice and warm...but you can do it! Resist the temptation.  =)  

By the way, my pictures make the cheesecake look a little yellow. That is for a good reason. =) I use eggs from free range chickens that I purchase straight from the farm. The yolks are much darker and higher in protein due to their natural diet than your average store bought egg. Just thought I'd let you know that. =)

Linking up at these fun parties:

Making the World Cuter: Making the World Cuter Monday
The Girl Creative: Just Something I Whipped Up
Tuesday's Tasty Tidbits: Permanent Posies
33 Shades of Green: Tasty Tuesdays
What Allie's Making Now: Making it with Allie
It's a Blog Party: Delicious Dishes
Tip Junkie: Tip Me Tuesday
Sweetology: Tea Party Tuesday
Creations by Kara: Look What I Made Day
The King's Court IV: What's Cooking Wednesday
Pinch of This, That & the Other: Whisking Wednesdays
Lady Behind the Curtain: Cast Party Wednesday
Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom: Commercial Break Thursday

Sweet as Sugar Cookies: Sweets for Saturday

Black Forest Cheesecake

Last night I made my very first cheesecake.  I honestly thought that it would come out looking beautiful and perfect.  Well friends, I thought wrong! =)  I found this recipe on Chef De Cuisine.  They don't have a picture of their cheesecake, but I can promise you that it looked prettier than mine.  

Here are the things that did go right:

• The cake itself tastes very good.  
• It's creamy, rich, and chocolaty.  
• The texture came out perfect.  

Here are the things that didn't go so right:

• Mine just didn't come out of the oven as pretty to the eye as I would have hoped.  
• For a black forest cheesecake, it wasn't as dark colored as I expected it to be.  
• My crust doesn't want to stick to the cake and is difficult to cut. 
• There were cracks along the top edges of the cake.

What I learned:

• Run a knife around the cake before you chill it. Then run the knife back around the cake before you open the spring-form pan.  If you don't this happens...

=(

• When it is baking, the cake will rise really high, but don't panic.  =)  The cake goes back down as it cools.
• Cherry pie filling and whipped cream will hide an ugly cake. ;-)

This is another recipe that I would LOVE some more experienced people to comment on.  Here is the recipe word for word from Chef De Cuisine with my tips at the end:

Black Forest Cheesecake

makes: 10-12 servings

Crust:
1 1/4 cups Graham wafer crumbs
1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 packages (8 ounce each) cream cheese, softened
1-12 ounce can condensed milk
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted, cooled
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-19 ounce can cherry pie filling
Whipped cream
Chocolate curls

Crust:
Combine crumbs, sugar and butter; press firmly on bottom of 9-inch spring form pan.

Filling:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In an electric mixer bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy. Gradually beat in condensed milk, chocolate, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill. Top with the pie filling. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls.


My tips for this recipe:

• I used 1- 12oz can of sweetened condensed milk.  The recipe doesn't specify.
• I did an oreo crust rather than the wafer cookies.  I also omitted the sugar from the crust.

I can't wait to hear from those of you more experienced than I am on how I can improve my cheesecake making skills. ;-)  

Linked up at these fun parties:

A Beautiful Mess: Tasty Tuesdays

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam: Tasty Tuesday

Creations by Kara: Look What I Made Day

The King's Court IV: What's Cooking Wednesday

House of Hepworths: Hooking Up With HOH

Whistlestop Cafe Cooking: Friday's Favorites